Heaven's Answer Hidden

Let's see…. Where did we leave off on our last blog writing? Marion already mentioned the 275 Confirmations at Christ the King. But did we tell you about the Sunday afternoon we put on a "show" for Olanya George (our driver) and his family? Well, George and his wife have four children who haven't seen the things their daddy saw when he traveled with us. We especially wanted to share all the animals we had seen at Paraa Park back in June! So we set up our "sitting room" (half of a bedroom) as the theater and served orange soda (their choice) and cookies. Pat had compiled the photos taken by all five of us and had them on a thumb drive so we could show them on any computer. Marion attached the projector from her office so they would be enlarged on the wall. Pat ran the show from her computer. When pictures were showing up the second time, Pat started making "shadow animals" on the wall, and then taught the little ones to do it also. George later told us that the show was a great success!

On Saturday, November 22, Pat attended the day-long meeting held by St. Joseph's School. The previous such meeting had been in December of 2005! The school is having major problems, and the Headmaster had invited her to speak to the two Boards, parents, and officials present about her observations while she worked in the classrooms. He said people might listen differently if it came from an outsider. Well, the talk was so well-received that the Archbishop, Bishop, the media, and several others asked for a copy of her talk. A copy was also given to the Education Secretary. Apparently, no one has been doing anything for the good of the school for some time. Pat introduced a visiting priest to the Headmaster recently. He has some very practical ideas regarding steps that can be taken. It will be interesting to see if anything comes from all of this in the near future.

Did we already tell you about our haircuts? Jo has cut the hair of Marion and Pat. Pat has cut the hair of Jo and Marion. With Jo gone and Pat desperate, Marion did her maiden voyage haircut on someone other than herself… You can see how well she did in the mouse picture that follows!

Prayer is a little different without Jo in our presence, but we do still pray together. For example, on Friday evening (December 5) we vigil-ed the Feast of St. Nicholas. December 6 is special for us because it marks our arrival in Gulu six-months ago! Yes, indeed, we've been here in this house for six months now. We reflected on the many gifts God has given us and how we've used them for the poor and needy among us. After sharing our insights with each other, we closed with the song "Holy Darkness" by Dan Schutte. The refrain goes like this:

Holy darkness, blessed night,

Heaven's answer hidden from our sight.

As we await you, O God of silence,

We embrace your holy night.

Since we had thought we would have been in Amuru about three or more months ago, we felt this was very fitting and meaningful.

Speaking of Amuru…. No, we are not there as yet. No, nothing has actually begun regarding housing there. We are talking, but no specific action has taken place. In the meantime, each of us has found ways to make a difference in lives right here in Gulu.
Marion has already written about some of her activities. Right now she is "on loan" from her office to help in the Peace and Justice Office. They are planning a huge (3000 to 6000 persons) peace gathering in mid-January. She has been busy trying to help them get some things moving. The frustrations involved are great… Besides, computer parts not working all the time, and the copier being in a different building about 5 minutes away by foot, and toner cartridges disappearing into a printer in a different part of the building, the individuals who give direction are not readily available. However, at least she feels good about helping out.

Now that the schools have officially closed for the next two months (similar to our summer break), Pat has had to seek other ways of being useful. One of the sisters nearby has asked her to tutor her in math so she will be ready to enter College to continue her education. It's been so long since she studied math, she needs some help to understand it. Pat has had to take several hours to prepare… This is serious math with linear and quadratic equations and operations on matrices in the first chapter! It's been a while for her, too, for this level math. Pat is also helping the Dr. Alice with whom Jo was working. No, Pat isn't playing doctor or nurse… Dr. Alice wants her to create some flyers that will help her patients. Pat will download information from the internet and format it on the computer so that the end result will look professional. She has sought the assistance of organizations that already have brochures available, too. Someone here will translate them into Acoli, and then Pat can get them printed in both languages. Of an evening, Pat decorated her "gum boots" to be in competition with Jo's pretty ones. What do you think?
While we were in Kampala over Thanksgiving, we found the water filter we had been looking for "forever." It is now set up and functioning well. We had been purchasing bottled water since that was the only way we could guarantee safe drinking water. We had been boiling water for dishes and cleaning our vegetables, but even that was limited once we only had a single charcoal burner for cooking. So we decided the water filter will pay for itself (and be much better for the environment) in a couple of months.Earlier this week we were invited to an evening party for two of the priests. One was celebrating his feast day, and the other his anniversary of ordination. It was good to be able to celebrate with them. Pat took some pictures during the party. One of the priests was so excited to see himself on the camera… He grinned from "Easter to Christmas," as Monsignor would say. We are having a print made to give to him!

All of the puppies are gone. This compound has three guard dogs that terrified us when we first came. We had been told that the dogs are let out after supper, and we should be aware of that. Well, the two females had litters within days of each other. Thirteen puppies in all! We enjoyed watching them develop from little fur balls into active puppies. Most of them wouldn't come near us, although Pat managed to pet several of them. They were all sold, so that part of our entertainment is gone. The good part of all this is that the dogs are now more afraid of us than we are of them. When they see us coming, they go in a different direction!

Today Marion learned a great Acholi expression that captures our language struggle: Leb Acholi gidonyo ki wang ot ci gikato ki tungcel. [What enters through one window passes out windows on the other side… Or, What goes in one ear, goes out the other"] …And here's an idiom: Atye ka ryemo olwango ki leba. No, it doesn't exactly mean, "I'm chasing flies with my tongue;" rather, "I'm hungry!"

On the morning of December 5 we picked up some packages from the Post Office in town. Hooray! The long-awaited mouse traps were there! Well, we diligently set them and placed them around the house that evening. Around 2:40 a.m. the trap in Pat's room went off. For the next 25 minutes she heard flopping around off and on, then nothing. The flopping had sounded closer and closer to her bed, so she was hesitant to step down in the dark. However, after experimenting a bit, she managed to find the dead rat/mouse, larger than the trap, not too close to her bed. That was the only catch that night, though. We are sure there are more, judging by the amount of droppings each morning. We will keep
We are now awaiting the visit from Amy Hereford and her brother, Father Tom. We will be back in Kampala the night of December 16 to pick them up the next morning. We'll tell you all about the visit in the next blog. Have a blessed Advent!

[Ed. Note. I have experienced a great deal of difficulty getting the photos to go where I want them, and one or two inexplicably disappeared while I was putting this pot together. I am not sure what the problem is. I will continue to work on it. However, some of the photos mentioned above just couldn't seem to stay on here, in case you're looking for them!]