Aggie's Dad

Aggie & Mum & Dad (they are separated - Aggie's Mum lives in Kampala)

We had a bit of a shock over the weekend. Aggie's Dad (who lives in the Karamoja region of far NE Uganda) was shot in the chest by a thief. For a while, we were not sure how critical his condition was, & were planning on having him airlifted to Kampala where there are better hospitals, but MIRACULOUSLY it seems that the bullet went through his shoulder & didn't hit his lungs or heart or anything "important". He has already been in & out of surgery in an "ok" hospital up there. He is stable & they are just waiting for things to clear in his shoulder before they can see if the bullet hit any bones.

The thief that shot him was trying to steal his livestock - very common up in the Karamoja region. There are armed cattle raiders/warriors who come in from other areas to raid villages/towns. The problem isn't nearly as bad as it was say 5-10 years ago, but it's still not good. Karamoja is also one of the poorest regions of Uganda. It's extremely dry, and in the past several years has been a focus of relief groups like the World Food Program, World Vision, etc. Aggie's father is very poor too, so Aggie has also gone up there to take him some money for his hospital bills.

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 11)

We recently had the joy of baptizing 60 people in Lake Victoria. These included Manna Ministry food recipients, students, security guards, and ex-prisoners that the IMFC team has been ministering to over the past few months. Enjoy!

Photo of the Month

Where's Waldo?

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 10)

Meet Mayi - one of our Manna Ministry food recipients living in the urban slum area of Katanga. A video with a lot of background noise, but that's half the point - for you to see how stressful it is to live like this.

2yrs in Uganda! - Photo of the Month

On October the 14th, 2007, Simon returned to Uganda (above photo) - 7 months after his prior visit. So today marks 2 continuous yrs in Uganda! There's some unexplained aura around us in this photo. Could it be the photographer's finger partially over the lens, or it could be luuuuuurve? &:-)}

Safari!

A couple of weeks ago Aggie and I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya for a weekend to organize some immigration stuff. We never knew we'd get to go on a safari while we were there!! Lake Nakuru National Park was A-mazing!! Experience some of it with us in this video.

(P.S. This trip was also Aggie's first time in a plane - wish I'd got some footage of that! *grin*)

Photo of the Month

Eggs from our chickens!

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 9)

Visit our Ugandan church with us!
(The 9th in a series of videos made for our church back in the U.S.)
For more about why we are here in Uganda, what we are doing, and how you can help us & the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

By the way - we are now on FaceBook - search under "Simon Paech"

Photo of the Month

This was really cool - the cow was bending down to let the chickens peck inside it's ear, & was closing it's eyes in enjoyment!

Meet the Paech Kids

This is LONG overdue!

The Boys



The Girls

Photo of the Month

There are heaps of signs saying this here & Simon never fails to get a kick out of each & every one. Maybe it's reverse psychology...(?)

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 8)

Recently we had a nice surprise for our Aggie's Arts ladies! It's been amazing to see how God keeps expanding this ministry!



P.S. To learn more about Aggie's Arts and to hear some of our ladies' stories, go to www.ugandajourney.org & click on "Aggie's Arts".

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 7)

(a series of videos made for our home church back in the U.S.)

Visiting the Manna Ministry food recipients in their homes is such an amazing thing - It's so personal! We're continually blown away by how much people appreciate us just coming to talk to them. We've had the joy of seeing many people receive Jesus as Lord during these visits too.

Meet Livingstone, who has been bedridden for 1 year. When we shared the gospel (gospel means "good news" by the way) with him, he warmly said "yes" to Jesus. And that puts a warm smile on our faces &:-)}

For more about why we're here, what we are doing, and how you can support us & help the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

Photo of the Month

Gaaba "beach", Lake Victoria, Kampala (not the type of beach us Aussies are used to, but still...). Standing on the light-post is a Marabou Stork. Sharing the largest wingspan of any land-bird (with the Andean Condor) - up to 3.2m (10.5 ft), and weighing up to 9kg (20 lbs)! These are very common in Kampala. They look like dirty old men when they're on the ground, like terradactyls when flying low overhead, and beautiful & peaceful when soaring in the thermals. Pretty amazing stuff! (the snails here are HUGE too - see Jan 20, 2007 post).

And now for something completely different...

Last week we took some time off & went to a small town called Jinja ["Ginger"] - about 2hrs drive east of Kampala. Jinja is on the banks of the White Nile River - which joins with the other Nile branches to eventually form THE Nile. The segment of river in this area is world famous for it's white-water rafting and kayaking - a big tourist attraction in Uganda.

Upon visiting beautiful Bujagali ["Boo-jar-gar-lee"] Falls, we saw something incredible - locals going through the rapids holding onto nothing but a 20 litre (5 gallon) jerry can! It turns out that these guys are not only crazy, this is their career - tourists pay them to do it! They grew up on the river and have worked their way up to negotiating Class 5* rapids like this one (called "Overtime").

Not to be out-done, see Simon perform his own matching daredevil feat - something he's always wanted to do (and unlike the jerry can guys, will most likely never do again!)

*Appendix: Whitewater rapids are classified according to their degree of danger or difficulty - Class 1 to 6. Class 6 rapids are considered to be so dangerous as to be effectively unnavigable on a reliably safe basis. Read here for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafting

Why we do what we do

We showed you an aerial view of Katanga (March 11). This video is an unedited walk along the main street - from one side of the community to the other, ending at the IMFC tent and truck set up on a Manna Ministry food distribution day. Yes, those are open sewers.

This type of footage (and photos) are really difficult to get here - if you want to be sensitive to people. This is actually the first time I (Simon) have tried it, and I was nervous - even with Aggie by my side. Ugandans are extremely friendly people, but when it comes to this, they can get extremely annoyed and indignant. Many Ugandans don't understand why the Mzungus (whites) want to take video and photos like this. They feel that we are ashaming them, and only show the bad/ugly side of Africa, and even that we do it with bad intentions. Aggie - my Ugandan wife - thought the same, until after we'd talked about it many times.

What we really intend is to raise the awareness of people in western countries - to wake them up to the reality that there are millions in the world who live in poverty like this. We intend to be ADVOCATES for these people - to cry out for help for them, on their behalf. That's why we do what we do.

For more about why we are here in Uganda, what we are doing, and how you can help us & the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

Photo of the Month

I read this in the news recently: "Doctor Close to Cloning Human: A US doctor claims he has cloned 14 human embryos and transferred 11 of them into the wombs of four women." That's pretty amazing, but it seems that although they have a lot of work to do on things here - like the roads - Uganda's biotech industry is streets ahead of the rest of the world. A couple of weeks ago Aggie bought this stuff in the taxi park for 50 cents. Since testing it on our chickens, the kids now enjoy chicken for almost every meal. We haven't tried it on them yet (the kids), though Aggie would like to. I still feel 5 kids is enough for the moment. Hang on, what's this cream on my arm...?

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 6)

IMFC has been working in the urban slum areas of Katanga (Kaa-tung-gaa) and Butabika (Boo-ta-bee-kaa) since February. In this video, the 6th in a series of made for our church back in the U.S., join us as we look back at our first Manna Ministry Food distribution in Butabika.

For more about why we are here in Uganda, what we are doing, and how you can help us & the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

Photo of the Month!

The sign on a mens' toilet. I like it! &:-)}

From the heart of Sarah

Aggie and her kids have experienced a lot of suffering. They grew up in an urban slum area of Kampala, living in a tiny one room house with a violent man (the kids' biological father). Click here to read more.

This week we'd like to share with you a letter that our 14yr old daughter Sarah recently wrote to Aggie. It really touched our hearts. Through her eyes you can also see what life can be like here in Uganda.

Dear my beloved Mom,

I am so happy that you gave birth to me. Other people throw their children in the toilets, others kill them but you didn't you are a wonderful mother and I LOVE YOU very much. Each day I think about you I remember you suffering for me I hope everything is good for you. I thank you for buying everything. You working so hard suffering in sunshine and in rainfall and cold and in hot you didn't abandon me. You really worked hard for me to go to school. I will not let you down try my best not to do so. I will work very hard so that your money is not wasted for nothing. I appreciate everything you do for me.

"Have sweet dreams"

Said Sarah Paech S.P.M

(Posted with Sarah's permission)

Photo of the Month

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 5)

Get an aerial view of both the community and the vision that we have for Katanga, an urban slum area of Kampala that IMFC has just begun working in, and will continue to work in for the next 6 months. The 5th in a series of videos made for our home church back in the U.S.

For more about why we are here in Uganda, what we are doing, and how you can help us & the people of Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.org

Photo of the Month

Imagine living at the top of the world - wOw. We took this photo in the beautiful Kigezi region of far southwest Uganda. For a slide-show of our trip to this area, see the post "A Quick Trip to the Southern Hemisphere" (Dec 11, 2008).

Life for Some...

Some people are forced to live in a virtual storm-water drain where their homes flood every time it rains. On top of this, they worry about the safety of their family as children are sometimes abducted and killed for ritual sacrifices. The urban slum area of Sebina/Mayinja that we've been working in for the past 6 months is such a community. Watch in the video below.

(P.S. Aggie and I really need your support so that we can keep working here! For more about us, what we are doing in Uganda and how you can support us in our ministry, please visit www.ugandajourney.org)

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 4)

"Aggie's Arts", one of our ministries here in Kampala, purchases beautiful hand-made bead necklaces from impoverished women, helping them to meet some of their basic needs. Join us as we visit 14 of our beaders in the community of Banda.

To learn more about Aggie's Arts, and to hear more of our ladies' life-stories, go to www.ugandajourney.org & click on "Aggie's Arts".

(P.S. This is the 4th in a series of videos made for our church back in the U.S.)

Photo of the Month

Here it is actually a complement for someone to tell a woman "Wow, you've put on some weight!" Most women don't want to be skinny, or even slim. Very different to the culture I'm familiar with!

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 3)

Welcome to a new year!

Watch the video below to join us as we visit IMFC Manna Ministry recipients in the (waterlogged!) community of Sebina. See and hear about some of the conditions many Ugandans endure, and how God draws people to Himself through them.

This is the 3rd in a series of videos made for our church back in the U.S.

(P.S. We are in need of your support! For more about us, what we are doing in Uganda and how you can support us in our ministry, please visit www.ugandajourney.org)

Photo of the Month

Our street on a lovely Kampala evening.

A Quick Trip to the Southern Hemisphere

Uganda straddles the equator. Alhough small, it's amazingly diverse. In the south is Lake Victoria - the 2nd biggest freshwater lake in the world, and plenty of trees, green, and rainfall. As you move northward the land becomes increasingly dry, changing to deserts of stunted scrub - eventually turning into the Sahara desert in Sudan.

In the far southwest are the terraced hills of the Kigezi region, with the phenomenal Virunga volcanoes on the border of Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo. Recently Aggie and I were fortunate enough to visit this area, escaping the noise and dust of Kampala on a quick trip to the southern hemisphere. Enjoy some of the beauty of Uganda with us in this video.

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 2)

Hi guys! The second in a series made for our home church back in Alabama, this video focuses on International Missionaries for Christ (IMFC) who we are working with here in Kampala. This really captures our heart, and the heart of the IMFC team, for the people we minister to.

Love in Him,

Simon & Aggie

(For more about us, what we are doing in Uganda and how you can support us in our ministry, please visit www.ugandajourney.org)

Photo of the Month

Caught in a thunderstorm, we (includes a chicken) shelter in the house of a family we were visiting during our Follow-Up ministry.

Almost Live from Uganda (Episode 1)

Hi everyone!

Below is a video that we recently made for Simon's home church back in Huntsville, Alabama Life's Journey Church). This is a really good overview of what we're doing here in Uganda - the various ministries we believe God has called us to be part of.

If you believe in what we are doing, we invite you to join us! We are still very much in need of financial support - specifically we need 35 more families to give US$1/day ($30/month) for our support level to reach 100%. If you would like to do this, please go to www.ugandajourney.org

Love in Him!

Aggie & Simon &:-)}

God of This City

Hi all! This week we'd like to share with you a video that a friend of ours back in the U.S. put together from footage he took when he was here in 2006. Actually I was on this same trip which was my first time in Uganda, and the beginning of this whole thing!

I could watch this video 100 times and not get sick of it! It captures so well the contrasts here - suffering and yet joy, poverty and yet astounding beauty, apparent hopelessness and yet so much hope! It will also give you a broader picture of life here in the city of Kampala than we've been able to give so far in our videos.

As well as all this, it captures the heart of the team here (many of whom you'll see in the video) - the hope, life, excitement and anticipation we have as we see God at work!

"Greater things have yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city!"

Enjoy!

Simon & Aggie.


Africa - God of This City from Katlin Miller on Vimeo.

Growing Smaller Part II

This week Douglas, Agnes and Simon visited the community of Kifumbira to share our "Growing Smaller" vision. Watch this video to learn how God has developed this ministry, and gaze into the hearts of the trainers and trainees!

(For more info about what we are doing here in Uganda and how to be involved, please visit www.ugandajourney.org)

Growing Smaller!

Today we began training 4 women in the community of Kawempe to be small group fellowship leaders. We believe that as the Church grows, it also needs to grow SMALL. Small groups are where we can truly share life together! Watch this video to find out more (and to meet these ladies)!

(For more info about what we are doing here in Uganda and how to be involved, visit www.ugandajourney.org)

The Front Fell Off

Here is some good Aussie humour!! Love it!!!

"THE FRONT FELL OFF..............

On August 19th 2007, an oil tanker off the coast of Australia split in two, dumping 20,000 tons of crude oil. Senator Collins, a member of the Australian Parliament, appeared on a TV news program to reassure the Australian public*."

(*Disclaimer: this is not for real, of course!)

The Paech Family Singers!

The Ugandan portion of the Paech family (to varying degrees) are avid composers, singers and dancers! In this video, the family sings a worship song called "Mukama Yaminyi" which means "It's only God who knows". Apart from English, Luganda is the most widely spoken language in Uganda, and this native tounge is what the family sing this song in.

P.S. Aggie wrote this song!

Aggie Interviews Winfrey in Bbiina

Aggie interviews Winfrey, a recipient of Manna Ministry food, at IMFC's 1st food distribution in Bbiina (pronounced "Been-a", and yes, that's spelt right!) this afternoon - a community we will be ministering to during the next 6 months.



For more information about what we are doing here in Uganda, go to www.ugandajourney.com

1st Manna Distribution in Sebina

Hi everyone! Today we (the IMFC team) began a new work in an urban slum area of Kampala called "Sebina" where we will be ministering for the next 6 months.

Check out 2 videos we shot just a couple of hours ago!





For more information, go to http://www.ugandajourey.org/

Love in Him,
Aggie and Simon &:-)}

House Tour

Don't be scared off by what (below) appears to be a video of a ghost. This is actually a short video tour of the house we are renting here in Kampala. My personal favorite part is (are?) the chickens, *grin*

The Introduction

Photo: Misti (Aggie's Matron of honour to be) & Aggie,

Simon & Deo (Simon's best man to be).

Click here for more photos!

Ok, finally a blog post! We are doing well and 3 days ago we celebrated 5 months of marriage! We have been so continually busy here that it's hard to find time for such things as blog posts, but it is long overdue to catch-you-up on some of the big events of the past few (now long-gone) months (including our wedding!). But since I'm a bit of a perfectionist, I'll do things in order & start with the Introduction ("Okwanjula"), which was on November 9th, 2007.

It looks like a wedding (except for that pink dress and those robe things), but it's not. Or is it?? Even though Uganda is becoming increasingly westernized in a lot of ways, many traditions are still practiced. The "Introduction" is when the (potential) groom and his extended family are introduced to the (potential) bride and her extended family. Relatives travel from all over the place to come to Introductions: Aggie's father and Aunts came from far NE Uganda and her mother's relatives travelled from Tanzania - both about 10hr, uncomfortable bus trips. Close family friends are also invited, so it ends up being a big event!

I say "potential" groom & bride because this event also determines whether the woman's family approves of and receives the man and his family. This is firstly decided from a knowledge of the man's character, and secondly by the negotiation of a dowry ("bride price") and the giving of lavish gifts of food and supplies to the woman's side of the family, all furnished by the potential groom (!). If the woman's family is satisfied with the man, dowry and gifts, they will give him a letter of acceptance - approving of his marriage to the woman. If negotiations don't go well, the relationship of the man and woman cannot go forward (with family approval). I'm told his happens occasionally, but fortunately for me, Aggie paved the way by negotiating a dowry with her parents before the Introduction, and I guess they thought I was an OK guy! So I was "pre-approved", *grin*. No worries!

From that description the Introduction sounds like a serious & scary event (which it was in some ways for me), but it's actually mostly a big celebration. Both families have a representative master of ceremonies (MC) - paid professionals who speak on their behalves. The MCs banter back and forth with clever and HILARIOUS questions, comments and come-backs, involving and engaging the two families. An example, when they were discussing my history: "Paech is a wise man, as he has managed to read every book in the world. His family accomplishments are great - Paech's grandfather invented the first motor-car, which can now be seen in the Ugandan museum..." My favorite was: "Paech, it seems that your eyes are ever sliding 45 degrees!" (referring to me looking over at Aggie who was off to the side at that time, *laugh*). They also cleverly worked Australia into things. 90% of this was in Luganda, being translated to me by Deo.

The whole event typically goes for a long time (aside: after being to my own and a few others, I have to admit that I now try to avoid them, but Aggie makes me go). Ours went from 2-8pm, with all sorts of really special parts: Aggie choosing me out of the crowd of people (identifying me as her husband-to-be), me choosing Aggie out of 3 groups of girls who paraded by (identifying her as my wife-to-be); an exchange of rings, the cutting of a cake and feeding it (and drink) to eachother, all culminating in what everyone was REALLY there for - a huge meal! Beef, chicken, matooke (the Ugandan staple: cooked green bananas - it's good stuff!), rice, "irish" potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanut sauce, greens... As the guest of honour, my plate was the biggest of all (couldn't finish it)!

The Introduction is actually the traditional Ugandan wedding! By Ugandan law, the man and woman are married after the bride's family gives their approval, and the man is then free to take his wife. But Christian Ugandans also have the traditional wedding that we westerners are familiar with, which is what Aggie and I had 2 days later. So we waited the extra 48 hours, *grin*.

Some of you have already seen a few photos from our wedding, but stay tuned - I'm going to post an entry with a lot more, complete with written details. Hopefully it won't take me 4 months. Ok...

• If you would like a copy of our Easter newsletter, with details of what we've been doing with International Ministries for Christ and a recent family/life update, please email me: simon_paech@hotmail.com
• For more information about what Aggie and I are doing here in Uganda click here.
• And finally, click here for more photos from our Introduction!

Until next time!

Simon & Aggie &:-)}

Merry Christmas From the Paechs!

(Photo above - left to right: Abbey, Joshua, Brian, Sarah, Simon, Aggie, Sharon)

Merry Christmas from the new Paech family clan in Uganda! Finally a blog update! There's so much to tell you about! God has done it!: I (Simon) arrived in Kampala on October the 14th and Aggie and I were re-united. It was SO good to be back together again after more than seven months apart. During the following weeks, we were extremely busy planning for two major, back-to-back events: a “Kwanjula” on November the 9th (my formal introduction to Aggie's relatives), and our wedding on the 11th. It was as tiring and stressful as you hear from everyone who is organizing a wedding, but we continually saw God at work, and both events went beautifully! Aggie and I then headed off for our honeymoon to Kabale, a beautiful location in far SW Uganda, arriving back in Kampala at the end of November.

Before our wedding, and with amazingly minimal effort (God again), we found a place to rent within our budget that exceeded what we had imagined! A four bedroom house in a good area, complete with furniture and appliances, AND a backup power system and solar hot water heater! It has some issues that need to be worked on, but we are very happy with it and it is now starting to feel like home.

All the (now Paech!) kids are home for Christmas holidays (Dec-Feb), so we are getting to spend a lot of time with each other and are starting to settle in together as a family. Mealtimes have been excellent with everyone sitting around the table talking and laughing. Everyone has been working really hard around the house - Aggie has raised an amazing family – they all work together as a team (a big change for me after being single for so many years), one that is great to join. Brian built a multi-level house for our (seven I think) chickens and I can hear the roosters crowing as we speak. Sharon has taken over Aggie's cleaning job at IMFC for the holidays, and Abbey, Joshua have been heading out early almost every day to play soccer. Sarah (and everyone else) has been enjoying watching movies I brought from the U.S.

Aggie took a break from IMFC ministry work for the kwanjula and wedding, and for us to get settled in together. However we are really looking forward to getting to work with the IMFC team and doing what God has put in our hearts!

God is faithful – 100% of our first three months of financial support (Oct-Dec) was raised before we left! Our longer-term support (January 2008 onwards) is currently a lot slimmer at only 25%. But we are confident that God will provide for us and we look forward to telling you how He does this (more amazing stories)!

When we have better internet access we hope to update this blog with details & photos of all the events of the past few months but for the moment you can go to http://www.ugandajourney.org/ and click on "Wedding Photos".

Again, merry Christmas from all of us!

The Paechs.

Uganda Journey

Ok, I'm not even going to talk about how long it's been since my last post! But things have really been moving along! I am returning to Uganda on the 13th of October, so 6 weeks from today I'll be there!! Aggie and my wedding will be on November the 11th! Wow! We're both really excited! I can't wait until she runs into my arms again at the airport - it was amazing enough last time - this time we're about to be married!

So things have been incredibly busy here, as you can imagine. A team of people here in Huntsville is forming who will be supporting Aggie & I in many different ways from back here in the U.S. This involves various sub support teams: a finance team, logistics team, accountability team, prayer team, and communications team. The leaders of these sub-teams will be from the church I'm part of, and the members can be anyone else who would like to be part of this adventure.

At this point, the team is not very large and there is a LOT to do, but we are trusting God! This is such a big thing and we are so small (as a team, and as humans) that only He can do it! Right now we're very focussed on finances (the money for Aggie & I and our family to live in Uganda and do the work God is putting in our hearts) and logistics (all the details like shipping stuff, insurances, etc). God has lead us to send me and trust Him to provide. I know He will - this is His thing!! We get to see how He does it and brings it all together, and He'll get the credit for it!

We are going to be raising funds through the support of individuals and also other creative ways, including selling beautiful necklaces, hand-made by Ugandan ladies from recycled magazine pages (advertisement there, *grin*).

We're calling all of this "Uganda Journey". Not just my journey in Uganda, but the journey of anyone and everyone who God leads to join us - whether on a support team, supporting us financially, or in any other way. You will be part of the journey. If you'd like to know more about this, click on this web page link: http://www.ugandajourney.org/ From this website you can also find out more about International Missionaries for Christ (the organization Agge & I will be working with in Uganda), as well as "Life's Journey" - the church I'm part of. At the top it also has a count-down of days, hours, and minutes until I fly out of the United States.

I have at least 2 more amazing stories to post - they've been sitting in the archives (of my mind, that is)! THE Amazing Story is continuing - having seen, and continuing to see God bring all of this together. All the other amazing stories are chapters in THE story.

Love in Him,

Simon &:-)}

Amazing Story #3

Well once again it's been too long since I last updated this blog! It hasn't been from a lack of things happening, that's for sure. The picture here is of a typical "boda-boda" (short for "border to border") - a small motorbike used a lot in Kampala for transport, especially as a taxi service. Imagine me & Aggie on this! That's what Amazing Story #3 is about.

In the living expenses budget for our family (to be) in Uganda, I estimated that Aggie & I would spend around US$1000/yr using local transport to get around. Every day we'll be going from place to place in Kampala - between our house & the IMFC ministry centre, house churches, discipling groups, as well as to go shopping etc. Most of these trips involve multiple routes, and although the individual routes are pretty cheap to travel, it all adds up over time. If you are going to have a car in Kampala, you really need a meadium-heavy duty 4WD vehicle because the roads are pretty bad. And when you have one of those, you're hit with US$4-5/gallon (AUS$1.50/litre - probably what you Australians pay now anyway) for fuel. A boda like this one (Indian made "Bajaj" brand, 100cc engine) costs about US$1400, and would get excellent fuel mileage. If we bought one ourselves, the money we'd spend on transport in just the first year would almost equal the motorbike cost.

When I came home from my 3 month trip to Uganda, I brought back lots of Ugandan hand-made bead necklaces - purchased from ladies in one of the house churches there - with the idea that we could sell them here in the U.S. and raise money to set aside for a boda. But God had other plans! Every year in Huntsville, a well-known suburb has a neighbourhood-wide garage sale, and people come to it from all over the place (even from other states!). Some wonderful ladies from my church decided to have a garage sale to raise money for a boda for me & Aggie! Two families from the church who live in that neighbourhood let us use their houses, and people from the church donated all sorts of (quality!) things to sell. Through the work of one wonderful lady, the Huntsville Coca-Cola factory donated 300 bottles of drink, and a local "Publix" supermarket gave us HEAPS of high-quality bakery goods (cakes, muffins...*mouth starts watering at the thought*)!

At the time of all this, it was early spring here, so the weather was oscillating between cold & warm, rainy and dry, so we weren't sure what the weather would hold for the Saturday of the garage sale. As the day drew neigh, things weren't looking good - a cold front was forecast to move through that very morning, with rain & thunderstorms, and the heaviest rain in the middle of the sale! God was sitting by wringing His hands saying "Oh no....this is a disaster" - not! Everything works out according to His plan, even if things don't LOOK good. The morning of the garage sale came and it was overcast and looked a lot like rain. A few light showers went through, but the people came - and bought! Bought garage sale stuff, drinks, and ALL the bakery stuff. At about 11am, close to when most garage sales have usually seen their greatest flow of people, the heavens opened and it poured & thundered & lightninged (learnt that term during my Master's degree work) and we packed things up. The money was counted at both houses, and put together it came to ONE THOUSAND AND EIGHTEEN DOLLARS!!!! wOw! I knew that was a lot of money, but I (an inexperienced garage sale person) was also told that this is amazing and pretty atypical for a garage sale. And put together with money my church has given towards support for Aggie & I, the total came to right around $1400! So this amount is set aside for Aggie & I to buy a boda when I get to Uganda! Amazing story #3!!

Again God has done exceedingly abundantly more than we could ask or imagine. And I've felt so loved by the people who have come around me (and Aggie) supporting us and being excited for us and enthusiastic about all of this. Honestly, I don't think Aggie & I can do this (or could have come to this point even) on our own, so thankyou to all of you who have been and are there for us. We love you and cherish you!

Our projected (and hopeful (and prayerful!)) date for me to return to Uganda is October. This has started to look more likely in the last few weeks. We're currently focussing on logistics (lots to sort through!), and the financial means. It looks highly possible that I may be able to work 1-2 days a week in my current field of work from Uganda (via the internet)! If this works out, it will go a long way to providing what we'll need financially there. If I do arrive back there in October, Aggie & I will likely be married in December, so anyone who has even vaguely considered coming to our wedding, start thinking more seriously about it! December is one of the cheapest times to fly to Uganda (at least from the U.S. anyway), which may just be great timing for anyone who might come.

By the way, Aggie now has electricity in her house, complete with a small colour TV! This is awesome for her! She also has the glass in the windows, so the place is almost complete. God is good - He provided this for her (and not through me!).

Well until Amazing Story #4 (which took place in the last couple of weeks), siiba bulungi (good-day!).

Simon &:-)}

Amazing Story #2

I'm going to have to update this blog more often if I'm going to keep up with all the Amazing Stories! I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. This amazing story is about a couple from another church in Alabama who went on a short-term mission trip with IMFC earlier last year, just like the one I went on with my church in July. Actually, only the husband went on the trip, but this story is about both him and his wife. He met Aggie in Uganda as the team from his church worked with the team there, and his heart went out to her and her kids. He decided to sponsor all 5 of them so that they could go to school! I think that they had been in and out of school over the years as Aggie could afford to send them.

When I was there over Christmas, Aggie was telling me that she was a bit worried that when she told this couple that we were engaged, they might stop supporting her. I said that I doubted that (having a glimpse of their heart through what they was doing for Aggie and her family), although I thought they would probably stop when we got married. Aggie emailed them and told them the news, trusting it all with God. They emailed back and said that they wanted to keep supporting Aggie in this way even WHEN we get married, and that they would only stop when we asked them to! Wow, how's that for trust and generosity! That blew me away, and we both saw this as part of God's provision for us as a family when I returned to Uganda.

You'll probably remember in my post of Feb 16 that Aggie and her kids and I travelled up to Kotido in the Karamojong region of NE Uganda. The reason we went was to take the kids to a boarding school up there, which is what Aggie (and most Ugandan parents) has really wanted for her kids. She did this in faith, believing that God was giving her the go-ahead, and that He was going to provide for her to keep them there.

Back in the US, I called the couple who were supporting Aggie's kids - to meet them, and also to update them on Aggie's situation. They had sponsored the kids for schooling in Kampala, which was about half the cost of their school fees at boarding school. I talked to the husband and he was awesome - he was so excited about me and Aggie being engaged and when I told him about the schooling changes, he thought about it, and then said that they wanted DOUBLE the support they were sending Aggie and pay for all their boarding school fees! Holy Shnikeys!! And he said again that they would do this even when we get married and would only stop if we asked them to. Amazing story #2! God's provision for me and Aggie! Katonda mulungi nnyo (God is very good)!

Aggie's youngest son, Joshua, topped his class at school in Kampala in the term before they went to boarding school. He wants to study to be a medical doctor. Brian wants to be an engineer. Sarah's favorite subject is English. Later, Aggie told me that when we were up in Kotido, she heard Brian, the oldest, saying to his brothers and sisters something like "We've been given this opportunity, let's not mess this up!". These are amazing kids and it's so good to see them have this opportunity to get an education and pursue their passions, and to think that this will enable them to be lifted out of a future of poverty. Katonda mulungi!

Ok, this is a pretty long post, but one more thing! It looks like God has opened up the immigration door for me to go back to Uganda! IMFC has talked to their lawyers over there and have said that getting a work permit for me through them in Uganda is not going to be an issue. Excellent! That's one big hurdle down! Now I'm focussing my efforts on the financial side of things, trusting God to guide and provide and bring everything together in His time.

Tujaka laba gana! (we shall meet again! - not sure if I spelt it right though, *grin*)

P.S. The picture with this blog entry is outside the gates to the new school that Aggie's kids are now at in Kotido.

Amazing Story #1

Not that there hasn't already been a string of these and that the whole thing isn't one in itself, but THIS is an amazing story! When I landed back in the U.S. on March the 3rd, I caught a shuttle van service from Atlanta to Birmingham (about a 2hr trip) before being picked up by a friend in Birmingham and driven to Huntsville. A guy called Jess was driving the shuttle van, and his wife, Denise, was keeping him company. They asked me where I'd been etc, and I told them. They were REALLY excited about it all, and we talked for the whole trip. At one point Denise asked me "What kind of dresses do they wear for weddings in Uganda?" and I told them that for a lot of weddings there, they wear the same sort of wedding dresses as we're used to. She said that she had a beautiful wedding dress that they had bought a year or so ago for their son's fiancee, but the engagement was called off and they'd been wondering what to do with it since. They said to find out what Aggie's size would be, and if it was a match, they may be able to help us out in some way. In addition to that, they asked how they can go about supporting us financially! WoW!!! My feet had barely touched the ground in the U.S. and God was already showing me that He was at work! If nothing else came of it, I thought, I'd made 2 new friends.

Back in Huntsville, over the course of a few weeks, I gathered some information, called a bridal dress alterations place, and emailed back & forth with Denise. It "turned out" that the size that was estimated Aggie would wear was the same size as the dress!! Wow! I emailed Aggie some photos and she loved it! It also just so happened that it was very much like a dress we saw in Uganda that she really liked, only way nicer! So what was left to find out was how much Denise & Jess were prepared to part with it for. I wasn't sure what they'd meant by "we may be able to help you out in some way" - it ocurred to me that they might even give it to us, but I didn't want to assume or expect. They came up to Huntsville this past Saturday so we could catch up and spend some time together, and they asked if they could bring the dress to show me (even though I'd seen it in the photos - being a guy, that was enough for me). The 1st thing they did when they got here was to get it out. It was phenomenal! Not overdone, yet ornate & amazingly beautiful. I could picture Aggie in it - she would look incredible. "So..." I said, after exclaiming how beautiful it was, "I have to ask...how much are you guys willing to part with it for?". They said "Well we've prayed about it and we'd like to GIVE it to you and Aggie". Maaaaaaaaaaaaaan! How amazing!! I called Aggie and she was over the moon and got to thank Denise & Jess in person over the phone. Jess & Denise left the dress with me - it's now hanging up in a massive bag in my room (it looks like I'm marrying a giant!).

Aggie and I both agree that this is 100% a God-thing. One thing we had planned was for me to try and find a dress for her here, since they're even more expensive in Uganda. My feet had literally barely touched the ground back in the USA, and there it was! Wow! Thankyou Denise & Jess, and thankyou Lord! The photo for this blog post is of Jess, Denise, and the dress. I have more photos but we'll save the full glory for the wedding day!

Stay tuned for Amazing Story #2!

Back in the U.S. of A!

Well I've been back in the U.S. for almost 2 weeks now, back at work, back into normal life things. My biggest culture shock can be summed up in one word: COMFORT! Sitting outside the house on a beautiful spring day I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. Compared to Kampala, the air is so clean, everything is so orderly and flows and works, and I can drink water from the tap!! Driving around in my own car is a luxury. The power doesn't go out for hours every couple of days, and I don't have to soak fruit & veggies in water with bleach before eating them. I can eat salads at restaurants (not recommended in Uganda). Fast internet connections! Uganda toughened me up - even my feet. I'm going to go soft again! "The Projects" - the government housing here in Huntsville are luxurious compared to the places so many people in Uganda live: running water, plumbing, electricity, heating, air-conditioning - roofs that don't leak, insect screens on the windows... And it's nice to not see poverty like in Uganda - but I know it's still there.

On the downside though, #1: I miss Aggie heaps! She is an amazing woman. We are back to 3 x 1/2hr phone calls a week, but it's so much better now that we know eachother well. She is doing well & sends her greetings. I'm missing the joyous Ugandan atmosphere (I'm listening to some Ugandan music online as I write this - http://www.ugandaonline.net/mp3 - from the list, choose "Nkuweeki - Iryn" - my favorite!). I miss the friends I've made there, the boda-boda motorbike taxi rides - even being packed in a taxi van with heaps of Ugandans I think! I'm back to Muzungu food too, which is good in some ways (breakfast cereals are way cheaper here), but I miss the Ugandan food - and Aggie's cooking!

Ok, down to business! It looks like it will be longer until I return to Uganda than planned. Aggie and I won't be getting married in early June. Before I left, I went to the Ugandan Immigration Service and it appears that staying in the country for an extended period of time is more difficult than I'd though. Marrying a Ugandan doesn't grant you that, strangely enough. The bottom line is that it looks like I'll need to go back to Uganda under a missionary organization, and get a work permit/visa through them. The organization that I went to Uganda with on my church mission trip back in July, and the one I worked with this time, is looking into this - which would be ideal, since it's the one Aggie works with, and the one her & I want to continue to work with. My best guess at the moment is that it will be about 6 months or so until I go back. That has actually relieved a lot of pressure on us - it will give Aggie & I time to raise financial support back here in the USA, and we will only begin to plan our wedding after I return, instead of trying to plan it now, along with everything else that we would have needed to get organized. So I'm thankful for this!

I've already seen God begin to provide for Aggie & I - I have some amazing stories - some of you know them! Maybe I'll share them in future blog entries - that would give me something to talk about actually, *grin*.

Alrighty then, until next time! I'll leave you with today's feature blog photo: me in Uganda after the typical "woman-braids-man-with-long-hairs'-hair" photo.

The Karamojong

Hi everyone - the trip to the Karamojong region in north-east Uganda went really well and was an amazing experience for me. The bus trip was AMAZINGLY grueling - I consider myself pretty tough when it comes to travel, but man....it was amazingly long, amazingly rough, and amazingly crowded. I didn't realize the Karamojong area was so remote - for the last 2 legs of the trip we travelled on dirt roads for a couple of hundred kilometres - it was awesome. It reminded me a lot of central Australia - very dry with stunted trees & bushes. I didn't know there were going to be mountains (well, HILLS for you Americans, mountains for us Australians), but there were, and some really cool rock formations and stuff. I saw my first chicken transition from life to death & to the plate (prepared by Aggie's sons), saw the arc of the Milky Way galaxy all the way down to both horizons for only the 2nd time in my life, bathed in an outhouse with a small plastic tub of water & candle (with a cool breeze & to the sound of insects - very relaxing), was served a plate solely of meat, liver & kidney for breakfast (to my horror - but had to eat it all so I wouldn't offend - that cliched thing you hear about happening to other people! I thanked God for the bowl of peanuts on the table!), met the Karamojong people (beautiful) & Aggie's oldest son, Brian, and her father, was given 2 chickens as gifts and smiled and thanked Aggie's relatives but thought "how the heck am I going to get these back alive on a 12hr bus trip!?" (we did! Barry & Freda are now happily pecking around Aggie's Mum's place in Kampala). Aggie's relatives were great & I really enjoyed it. Aggie's kids are now in good schools up there as well, which is excellent. The photo here is of a group of Karamojong girls we came across who were excited to have their photo taken. Amazing photo!

Click here for more Karamojong trip photos!

So 2 weeks today I leave to go back to the US, planning to be back here in late May for our wedding in the 1st week of June! Aggie & I have a lot to organize! So blog posts may be few & far between in the next few weeks, but this is not the end of the blog (although I'll have to think of a new title when I'm back in the US - "Simon Paech's a Series of Fortunate Events" maybe?). I'll use it to keep you all posted of future developments.

Thankyou all for your thoughts & prayers!

Simon.

P.S. I'm feeling better than I was 2 blog entries ago - thankyou Lord!

A Wife of Noble Character

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies." (Proverbs 31:10)

Ok, in this blog I haven't revealed *all* of the goings on here in Uganda! As a lot of you know, I came here for 2 reasons - to see where God would guide Agnes & I in our relationship, and to see where he would guide me as far as the possibility of working with the Kampala Christian Church Network (KCCN) and International Missionaries For Christ (IMFC) - 2 things that He put in my heart to pursue when I was here for 2 weeks last year working alongside these teams with a group from my church. After about the 1st week of being back here I already knew I wanted to marry Aggie. She is an amazing woman - beautiful inside and out, and truly a woman of noble character! After spending a lot of time together over the last 2 months, the desire to marry her didn't change, but I felt I needed to wait for God to make some other things clear (or clearer). One of these was the place he might have here for me with the KCCN and IMFC. He did speak to me about this - to start out small and be faithful to use the gifts he has given me - the strongest ones being serving and mercy - "Those who can be trusted with little will be trusted with much". So that was the direction that I needed.

The other thing I felt I needed to see was his provision for us - for me & Aggie and her (to be *our*) children. I didn't feel that I could ask her to marry me and plan to come back to Kampala until I knew that this provision was in place. We would both really like to work full time in teaching & training and evangelism with the KCCN and IMFC here in Kampala, but we need to have some way of supporting ourselves. So at that point I felt that the ball was in God's court. Over a period of a couple of weeks, God hit the ball back into my court - I felt that he was leading me to do the reverse - to move ahead with plans to marry Aggie, and trust him to provide. Yikes! But the truth of it is that all of this has been his thing - so he is going to provide!

So this past Friday evening I took Aggie to a nice outdoor Thai restaurant - and I asked her to be my wife. She said yes! I already knew she would - she has been patiently waiting for me to ask this question, *grin*. We are planning to be married in the first week of June. I go back to the U.S. on the 2nd of March, will get everything ready to return to Uganda to live in late May, and we will trust God to bring together the provision.

Wow - what an adventure! I have to be honest - I've stuggled with fear and anxiety along the way, but God keeps reassuring me and guiding me and encouraging me step by step. So I know we'll continue to see him do that!

I know a lot of you will be really excited to hear this news! Aggie and I will be away until the end of this weekend - we're leaving Wednesday to take her kids to school up in north east Uganda - which will be an adventure in itself! So I'll catch up with you all (with lots of photos I reckon!) when we get back.

Simon &:-)}

(P.S. The photo at the top of this blog entry is after I asked Aggie to marry me, *grin*)

The Kotolis have moved in!

Hi everyone. It's been a few days since I've written because I'm still not feeling well. I think the whole cold/sinus thing is starting to go away, but I think the thing I had for about 5 weeks before coming to Uganda (feeling out of it in my head when I start to do things physically or mentally) may be back. I'm hoping it's just a side-effect of the cold thing. Trusting (and re-trusting, and re-trusting) God - He knows exactly what it is & what's going on. It's a shame because I haven't been able to do much with the volunteer team that's here at the moment. God is in control.

I've been meaning to tell you that Agnes and her family have moved out of their rented place & into the house that was being worked on - they've actually been in it for a couple of weeks now. In this photo you can see that the front wall has been plastered, and the porch area cemented. The inside also has been plastered, and floor cemented, so this is excellent. It feel so much bigger in there - and it's a much cooler place. What's left now is some iron sheeting to form a gutter of sorts on the right side (where at the moment rain from the place next door pours onto the outside wall and soaks through to the plaster inside), glass (& hopefully insect screens) for the windows, plastering the side walls, having the wiring etc for electricity installed, putting a door and window in the store-room, and painting the inside and out. That's quite a lot still, but this place has been built on faith & God's provision from the beginning when Aggie expressed to God that she needed a new place, and believed He said to go ahead. So in faith she had her old mud place knocked down & took on the extra cost of renting another place. And now, about 3 months later, she is in it, and looks around at what God has done, and in faith knows it will one day be finished. I believe it too!