WUNDERLI WANDERINGS

Zara watching the puppets Joshua and Luuk watching the puppets with much enjoyment The first at a MAF Christmas party - Line Dancing We had a great day at the MAF Christmas party last week. Our MAF Puppet Team (Out of the Blue) were a big hit again along with some line dancing. There are rumours that I need to organise a ceidlh for next year....YIKES! Anyone planning on coming over from Scotland to help????

Our Cessna 210, call sign Foxtrot Tango Charlie (FTC) is now back from Bulago island and has a new nose (propeller). Simon flew to the island with one of the other pilots and engineers where they fitted a new propeller. The engineers had completed an engine check to make sure it hadn't been damaged during the prop strike. Thankfully the verdict came back that it was safe to fly back to the mainland but the engine would still need to be sent back to the States for further checks. Simon went armed with his helmet, life jacket and lots of prayer :) He took off and climbed up to 11,000 ft before descending into MAF's Kajjansi airfield. The flight is not long but with climbing to that height, if the engine did quit on him, then we would have enough gliding distance to make it. Thankfully none of the safety precautions were needed and the plane and he arrived safely and all in one piece. Another prayer answered!!!

Please note the updated Praises and Prayer requests!

The start of the 2hr boat ride to Buvu Island in Lake Victoria View of Buvu Island from Lake Victoira The first Church on the Island which I think took 2 years to build! One of the few boda bodas (motorbikes) on the Island to look at the potential location of the new airstrip. A lot of work to be done! The team that went out to scope it all out. (L to R Brad who is an engineer from EMI, Simon, Sam Tsapwe from Jesus Film Ministries and Adrian Went, MAF's Operations Manager) OOPS! OOPS AGAIN!! Well it is definately time for another update. A lot has happened since my last post so I will try to fill you all in while we have power. The power went off on Sunday afternoon and came back on for a couple of hours today and then went off again. Thankfully it is back tonight. Hopefully it stays on :) Anyway I had better get writing this post in case it does go off. Simon had a productive time down in South Africa at the end of October. He was doing some MAF training in order to be qualifie...

Last week Joshua came home from school with Barnaby Bear. This bear is supposed to visit all the homes of the children in "his" classroom. Last week it was Joshua's turn. He was so excited. Barnaby Bear also has a diary which Joshua was supposed to write in and tell of Barnaby Bear's adventures at the Wunderli home. Joshua was also to draw pictures of the things that Barnaby got up to but we decided to take photos instead and then stick the printed photos in his diary just to be a little different. Above are some of the photos we took.

Last Friday we got a phone call to say that the MAF Congo team were evacuating out of Bunia, East DRC due to rebel activity. We suspected that earlier in the day that this was going to happen but were not sure. Simon had flown into Bunia that afternoon but the situation was still uncertain as to whether a evacuation was necessary. Anyway by early evening we were told that the team were evacuating and had been given permission to fly at night. Simon and one of the other guys went pick them up at Entebbe. We have three people staying with us. One of them is a good friend of ours Sheryl Strietzel. Her and her husband had just returned to Bunia a month ago after the last problems there. Lary and one of the other pilots have remained in Congo to carry on doing the flying. Some of the team plan to return at the end of this week however, Sheryl and the couple will remain in Uganda until maintenance on one of the planes is finished and then will fly in after that. The couple, Caleb ...

Last week Simon had the privilege of flying the Crown Princess of Denmark around Uganda. This trip was inconjunction with the Danish Refugee Council. The Princess was visiting various places where the Danish Refugee Council work in Northern Uganda. Simon said she enjoyed the time in Uganda and had a wish to return at some point. The photographs above were taken from the MAF Denmark website. Zara was especially excited as she loves anything to do with Princesses (not sure who she got that from??) she was asking Simon on the phone during the week what the Princess was wearing and if he was bringing her back to our house. It was quite the week for Zara that her Daddy was flying a real live Princesss.

Zara playing on the newly constructed pirate ship at school while waiting for Joshua's assembly to start Zara our little posing Princess Joshua was excited this week as it was his classes turn to take the Infant Assembly at school. They were performing the story of the Gingerbread Man and Joshua was the Gingerbread Man. Another bonus was the fact that Simon could also attend as he had a non-flying day. Joshua did a splendid job of being the Gingerbread Man and we were wondering how they were going to portray the fox eating the gingerbread man. However, I guess in Uganda they have a different version (or they changed it!) because at just the last minute the little old man and the little old woman came running to his rescue and delivered the gingerbread man from the wily old fox. (Sorry the pictures are not so good of Johsua, the lighting in the music room is not good for photography)

We are in the midst of rainy season at the moment. Phew can it rain!!!! The other day I was coming back from a friends house with Zara in the MAF van. (our car was out of service awaiting a new battery). As I was going up one of the hills the van started to slide and the wheels were spinning. It took about 10 trys before I managed to make it up the hill. Zara was sitting next to me and she kindly advised me..."Mummy we should just go back to Ilonka's (friend) house and sleep there for the night.." Thankfully once I managed to get it into 4WD we made it up the hill. When we got to the top of the hill we both thanked the Lord for a successful mission through the mud. Please pray for our pilots during this season of rain and storms that they would have wisdom and an alertness to juggle all the necessary decisions that need to be made. Also I would value your prayers for driving on the roads especially when taking Joshua and Zara to school that we would have safe pas...

Our MAF Uganda website has just gone live in the last couple of weeks. You can check it out by clicking on the following link http://www.maf-uganda.org or clicking on MAF Uganda in the Interesting links section of our blog. I have also managed to meet up with Sam from Jesus Film Ministries again for some stories. You can click on Jesus Film Ministries in the Interesting Link section and read some of the amazing things God is doing in Uganda.

The summer holidays are coming to a close. Joshua and Zara start school again tomorrow. They both move up a class. Joshua into Grade 1 and Zara into Kindergarten (she was in the nursery class before). It will be strange not having them around the house although I will have Zara around during the week as she is only 3 days at school. They are both looking forward to returning and seeing their friends again. Zara said to me the other day...they have lots of toys in my class...you can see where her loyalties lie. We were truly grateful for our 10 day break in Tanzania. We were ready for a holiday by the time it came around as the previous weeks had been rather hectic. On our return from Tanzania I took up the role of Acting Programme Manager for two weeks due to our Programme Manager being on furlough and our Operations Manager on holiday. It was a challenging week but I enjoyed the glimpse into what life is like in that role...BUSY!! Thankfully it was only a two week stint and now I am b...

The place we stayed was the settlement in the distance. Kind of difficult to see in such a small picture. The lodge is the nearest settlement in the picture. Unloading from the plane. We were only gone two nights. It looked like we had packed for a lifetime stay. A lot of it was food as we had to bring all our food in for our stay. 12 of us sitting on dining room chairs in the back of a pick up. It was definately a interesting safari especially when we came across lions, elephants and buffalo. I felt particularly exposed. Zara our little Princess! Bulbul the elephant who is a regular visit to the camp. As I was using the bathroom I happened to look out the window and there was bulbul looking straight back at me. It must be one of my most unique bathroom moments. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me in the bathroom. In the picture Simon, Joshua and Zara just coming out the bathroom. Tim the King of the Pride Bulbul on the wander again...Joshua and Mat also to...

This one is a bit out of sync due to me deleting it by mistake. Anyway J and Z having their morning Chai (tea) The view of the beach outside our banda on Lazy Lagoon Simon and Zara on the boat ride to Lazy Lagoon Pam and Joshua on the same boat :) Our "home" for the five nights. The loft area was where J and Z slept. They thought it was pretty exciting. We set the kids a challenge to make the biggest sandcastle. Of course the Mums and Dads were involved too. This one we made outside our banda so we could watch the tide come in and dismantle it. Even on the day we left the sandcastle still stood with only some battering from the ocean. Gives you some perspective on how big the sandcastle was :) At 7am we had Chai (tea) delivered to our Banda. J and Z got really into. Very milky tea with sugar in it. Even now they still ask for some. I don't tell them that at home they only get warm milk with a little sugar...cuts out the caffeine :) Zara loved looking for starfish in t...

On our flight with Air Uganda from Entebbe to Dar Es Salaam we made a quick stop in Kilimanjaro to pick up more passengers. This is a view of Mount Kiliminjaro from the plane. (its the furtherest away mountain in the photo) Our early rise of 4am took its toll as you can see. This is J and Z finally giving in to tiredness on the taxi ride from Dar Es Salaam airport to White Sands Hotel. A windy afternoon on the beach at White Sands Waterworld next to our hotel. The kids loved all the slides. Me on one of the slides at waterworld...felt like a kid again :) Joshua our little fish.... and Zara our second little fish... Simon and Zara enjoying the waves of the Indian Ocean The Wunderli blog has been quiet for the past couple of weeks or so and the reason for this is that we were in Tanzania. We were able to take some time off and go to Tanzania for 10 days. It truly was a blessing from the Lord!!! The first 5 days we stayed in a hotel on the beach called White Sands just north of Dar ...