Saturday, June 15, 2013

Why Ugandans Iron Everything They Wash

Hello everyone. This is Floyd.

Today has been a day primarily spent in rest, study, and prayer. I blogged earlier about everything that had happened this morning prior to lunch and I think that Kim blogged about the talk we received today from Uncle Jonnes about the orphan’s heart. It was a great talk but since Kim has already discussed it, please see her post for more information on that.

After lunch we came back to our room and did some laundry. I should clarify that Tamra did some laundry, but I hung the clothes line so that she would have something to hang the clothes on. J We learned something very interesting today that was quite contrary to what we had understood about Ugandans before. You see Ugandans iron everything. I can’t stress this point enough because they literally iron everything. We have always been told and believed that this was because the culture does not allow for wrinkles as everyone is supposed to look socially presentable; at least as much as is possible based on what you have. Thus everyone irons. Now this is not totally incorrect but it is not the primary reason for ironing everything. The real reason you iron everything in Uganda (and boy are we glad we found out before tomorrow) is because of the mango flies. What apparently happens is that the mango flies land on your clothes while they are drying outside and lay their eggs in the clothing. Then you put on the clothes and the tiny eggs get into your skin. So you just became an incubator and the eggs hatch from within your skin, sending you and all those around you screaming in terror. Well, maybe just you. Anyway…. this is the real reason everyone irons. So that the heat can kill the eggs and you won’t become a human mango fly.

We spoke with Pastor Johnson today (the pastor of Victory Living Word Church who is our partner for the church plants) to coordinate attending church there a week from now. Hopefully his schedule will allow for us to go and visit the 150 acre property afterwards, but we won’t know until later. He is checking his schedule.

The power is back on again after going out sometime in the middle of the night last night. This has given us a chance to recharge our equipment so that we can withstand the next round of power outages, which will no doubt be here soon - probably tonight sometime. We've had no power way more than we have had power here; we expected that would probably happen.

Tomorrow we will attend church for the first time here at New Hope. I have no doubt it will be an experience as all church services in Uganda have been thus far. We are looking forward to it.

I will now leave you all as I end this blog thinking about Father’s Day. Father’s are a huge blessing and those that are missing theirs undoubtedly have huge holes in their hearts right now. I still have my father and while I don’t see him as often as I would like to, I know that he is there. The same is true with our Father in heaven. We don’t really see Him ever. But we should know that He is there. Perhaps you should wish Him a happy Father’s Day too. He loves you. He created you. He is inside you. Talk to Him. You may be quite surprised by what He has to say to you when you do. Happy Father’s Day Dad. Happy Father’s Day God. Love you both for all you've done, all you do, and all you've yet to do.


Now I've got to go iron some clothes….

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