We made it!

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are alive and well in Uganda! It has been a crazy time and we can't believe that we have been here for a week and a half already. Our apologizes that we did not do a "we made it" post earlier. We will do our normal monthly post at the beginning of April.

Here are some of the exciting and note worthy points of our time in Uganda so far. Honestly it has been a whirlwind and hopefully we can express into words some of the past week and a half.

• We flew into Uganda at about 11pm on Thursday the 13th. After getting our 12 checked bags (50 lbs each) off the carousel, we had to find enough carts to hold those plus 2 car seats (which we have yet to use here in Uganda), a stroller and all our carry-ons. It's like we were moving or something. After getting some help to get all our bags out the door we met our ride and got out to the car where Nathaniel starts screaming that he has to go #2. So Becky "suggests" in her "quiet and calming" voice that I need to find him a bathroom. I pick him up and run back to the terminal (remember we are in Uganda) and try to find a bathroom without my kid going before he should. We eventually did and got back the car. Not bad for flying into a foreign country at midnight with 2 toddlers.
• After staying in a guest house for 8 nights, we found a place to live for the next year (see the below pic). We had a bit of trouble finding a place, but in the end we are excited about the one we are at. It has it's challenges since it's quite old but it has a huge, pretty yard. Not to mention we have a large avocado tree in our back yard that has me dreaming of guacamole already.
  
• On one of our days of shopping for household items for our house, Bethany & Nathaniel were not doing so awesome in the seemingly endless rows of Mommy & Daddy looking at items that they were not allowed to touch. After a while, Becky turned to me and announced "Just so you know I'm close to crying, so just be careful with your words." It was good to know. $20 to the first person who guesses what I did while still in that same store. Yup, I made my wife cry. I say this to not belittle my Becky's feelings at that moment but just to give some real life moments of our life here. With adding moving to Uganda to the normal stresses of everyday life, we would love your prayers to be more like Him in not only our "purpose" of being here but also continue to need Him and be like Him in our our everyday things.
• The last item I will mention has been a fun one for me the past few days. Since being here we have had to rely on others to transport us around and get things done. It has been great and the people have been awesome. But there is something to being able just hop in your car and go do an errand. Well we don't have a car and even if we did, we had no idea where to go. Well the past few days as the map in my head of Kampala has gotten better and better, I have mustered up the courage to take a 'boda-boda' around to do certain things. Not only has it been great to go do things we need to do but it's been alot of fun to ride these things. For a boda-boda, think of a guy on a motorcyle for hire with the driving style being something like the video game Frogger: weaving in and out of cars and not really paying attention to any road rules. They've been fun to ride. Becky has made me promise to get a helmet if this is going to be a regular mode of transportation for me but they are fun nonetheless.

 I hope these few stories and convey a bit of our life here so far and help you to relate and therefore pray for us. I have started reading one of my favorite books since we got here. It's kind of a biography of a missionary in the early 20th century named Isobel Kuhn. Really cool lady; from Vancouver actually. Anyway, the main theme for this particular book of hers is that we, as Christians are in the middle of an arena filled with spectators each day of our lives. That our obstacles, trials, choices, lives are a platform for God to be revealed to ourselves, other believers, non-believers and the spiritual realm. That God wants us as Christians to look to Him and rely on Him with all the parts of our lives as we encounter it. This will enable Him to show His power and fellowship.

I find this really encouraging and I hope you do as well.

Thank you all for your support and words of encouragement. We love you guys & gals.

The Whisnands

P.S. Tomorrow is Bethany's 2nd birthday and Becky's 32nd. Happy Birthday!

March 2014 Update

Hello Friends & Family,

Well it’s fast approaching that time when we will be leaving for Uganda. Our flight leaves on Tuesday, March 11 at 9:45pm. Craziness. The past week has been packed with changes and a million things to do. I have attached a picture I took of our “to-do” list that hopefully makes you laugh with all the things we have done & have yet to do this week. My favorite item on the list is “pack the house.” It makes us laugh.

Some highlights of the past few weeks include:

• Jay had emergency dental surgery that has culminated into Jay having an implant put in late this week. More craziness. Expensive craziness.
• Jay’s last day of work was on February 28. Was harder to leave than I thought it would be. The company I worked for has been great and I really enjoyed the people. 
• We met and had lunch with another young family here in Surrey, who is where we were last year with EMI. They are looking into long term commitments and going on an exploratory trip this week. Cool to look over the past year and see what all has happened and the things God has done to get us to this point.
• Our house is looking more and more like a bomb went off with all the purging and packing going on.
• We have had numerous people give us gifts of food, gift cards and time to help us with our move in the past few weeks. We thank all of you so much. It’s been great to see the community around us.
• We had our garage sale a few weekends ago and it went great. We sold most everything we wanted to, which was surprising since we woke up to snow that morning. One of the shoppers put it into perspective when they said we were doing great because we had no competition that day. I mean who else does a garage sale on a winter snowy day??
• We learned that one of the EMI staff families in Uganda is throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party 2 days after we get there. We are excited for the opportunity to get to meet a lot of the families at a fun event early on. We have also been told we have to wear something green and bring an Irish joke. If anyone has a good joke, let us know.
• We have been looking at places to rent through pictures and emails coordinated by the EMI staff. I have attached a picture of the current place we are hoping to get. We are excited about this place and we’ll see what happens.

We want to thank everyone for their support and help with getting us to our goal. We made it. It has also been very cool to see God show up in this past year. Becky and I were talking the other night and we’ve learned something cool in the past year: if we pray specifically, God answers specifically. I think we pray generally to God a lot of the times because we either don’t believe He will really answer and so we are just going through the motions or because we want God to read our minds. But I don’t think God works that way. He wants to be in relationship with us. He wants us to ask Him.

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”

Matthew 7:7-11

      So to recap, we are flying out on Tuesday, March 11 at 9:45pm from Vancouver. We have an overnight layover in London and then on to Kampala, Uganda. In our next blog post, we will hopefully have cell phones by then and will be able to post our numbers if you wish to call. We will also post our addresses if anyone wishes to mail anything. Please e-mail as well, we would love to hear from you.

Some prayer requests for the next few weeks:

• We would have a good time with family & friends before we leave.
• We would sell our second car.
• We would have a relaxing flight with the kids. That we enjoy our time not packing.
• Communication. For Jay and Becky to be patient with each other and communicate well in these busy and sometimes stressful days.
• We would have a good transition to Ugandan life.
• We would experience God in new ways as we step out on this journey.

Thank you all so much,

Jay, Becky, Nathaniel & Bethany Whisnand

jaywhisnand@gmail.com

becky.whisnand@gmail.com

whisnands.blogspot.ca