WUNDERLI WANDERINGS

Thank you to all our faithful family, friends and supporters who have stood behind us during this past year.  We appreciate all that you do for us and we want to wish you a blessed time over this festive season.  May you reflect on the true meaning of CHRISTmas in the days ahead. Matthew 1:18-25

As I write the sun is shining outside and there is not a rain cloud in sight.  We have had a long rainy season and the temperatures have been quite cool.  However, I am sure we will be wishing for rain again in a short while when the dust increases :) Thanks to all of you who prayed for Simon when he was in Juba last week.  He had very full days (a normal day was at least 12 hrs).  He did everything from helping one of the staff with their driving after only recently passing his test, organising ground operations and loading and unloading aircraft.  He said he found muscles he never knew he had.  It was an enjoyable experience for him and gave him a good perspective on the real needs of the team in Juba.  One thing that made the job all the more difficult was working in 40c+ degree weather.  I think I would have just melted into a puddle. While Simon was running around in South Sudan Joshua, Zara and I held the fort at home.  The kids did...

This month we have seen a lot of rain.  This morning when I took eight children to school the road in the valley was pretty much impassable.  The water was up to the windscreen of a small bus and one car was already on its side.  I was so grateful I didn't have to go that way.  As I passed that way on the way to pick up the children the field next to the road was basically a lake.  It is going to take a while before all that water recedes.  With all this rain comes bad roads or inpassable roads and collapsed houses.  As I drove today I saw people putting sandbags in front of their shops and houses so that the water wouldn't enter.  I guess too much of a good thing can also be a bad thing....in the dry season we are glad to see the rain. We are also experiencing a lot of power outs sometimes 24hrs at a time.  This has had a detrimental affect on businesses who rely on power to get their work done.  It is getting to the point whereb...

Last Thursday we had Summer and Eden come to stay.  We have known Summer and Zane for a number of years now.  Zane, in the last two years, has been Pastoring two churchs upcountry in a place called Kitgum as well as developing a farm.  They meet under a mango tree for church :). Summer has been having some health problems and was due to fly to Kenya but because of the recent bombings there decided against it and to wait a couple more weeks.  She did, however, need to do some testings which couldn't wait so travelled, with their youngest daughter, Eden, to Kampala.  This was an 8 hour bus journey which is not pleasant at the best of times but more so when you are not feeling well. Thankfully they arrived safely and we enjoyed catching up on their new life in Kitgum.  It is very different to what we experience in the City.  To get a glimpse of their ministry you can check out their blogspot at http://www.fromglory 2glory.blogspot.com ...

As you will know from a previous post that we have bunnies.  We thought we had 5 babies but it turns out we only have 4 but that is enough to keep up going I can tell you.  Joshua and Zara love them and they get cuddled and kissed at any free moment.  Some of  J and Z's friends come over to play with them too so they have a been a source of great entertainment.  It is difficult not to get attached to them because they are so cute and mischievous.  I will let you enjoy the photos and see for yourself.

For some of you reading this post you are in the midst of Autumn/Fall and heading towards the winter season.  For us we are just coming out of a heavy rainy season and cooler temperatures.  A couple of weekends ago we went out to visit some friends in the West of Uganda in place called Fort Portal.  They are starting a new ministry there which includes discipleship and possible a prison ministry.  It was great to see where they are living and have an idea of what their daily life is like.  That side of the country is very green and we know why....it rains!  It felt more like Scotland in February and it was definately cooler than Kampala.  We were also able to hook up with some other people we knew there and also attend Calvary Chapel Fort Portal and to hear of the great work that is happening there. However, during that time away I wasn't feeling 100% and continued to feel under the weather the following week.  A trip to the doctor showed that I...

Simon was called on last Thursday to do a medevac (medical evacuation) for a man upcountry.  He was very ill with malaria and possibly typhoid also.  When Simon arrived at the destination the man was visibly pretty sick.  Simon flew him down to Kampala to go to hospital for vital treatment.  We haven't had an update yet on his status but pray that he was able to receive the correct medical treatment and is on the road to recovery. On Saturday Simon flew out to the West of Uganda to a place called Bundibugyo.  This town is on the border of Congo.  The team he flew out were going to be putting an inverter system in for their mission organisation.  The plan was for MAF to fly them in and then they would stay overnight and return by bus the following day.  This journey takes just over an hour by plane but many hours by bus.  I know which one i would choose :).  Thankfully Simon has had experience with inverters (a system that enables ...

 This wee bunny is nicknamed "Baby Rocky" because of his colouring.  He is like his Daddy. Zara holding one of the white ones for the first time. Joshua holding one of the smaller babies....maybe the runt of the litter :) We had just gone swimming hence the lack of clothes on Joshua and Zara :) Fang the mummy rabbit who did all the hard work.  The picture of Rocky didn't come out well so we will show him another time. The Wunderli family has significantly grown in the last month.  When we returned from furlough we had promised that Joshua and Zara could have rabbits.  To cut a long story this was achieved and we were the proud owners of Rocky (boy) and Fang (girl).  Joshua had picked the girl rabbit unbeknownst to him at the time and Zara the boy.  Hence the names :).  Well 31 days later we are now the proud owners of an additional 5 rabbits.  Joshua happened to be down at the hutches when Fang was giving b...

On Tuesday Simon was supposed to fly to Torit in the new country of the Republic of South Sudan.  However, the passenger that he was to pick up had been out of communication contact so it wasn't sure if the flight was going to happen or not.  However, about 9am the office got a phone call to say that the passenger had made contact and was ready to be picked up.  Simon called me to say he was heading out to the airstrip to do the flight.  In a moment of impulse (not usual when it comes to things like this :) ) I asked if I could join him and he said that it would be a good day to go as he was only picking up one passenger.  South Sudan was the only country that I hadn't been to yet with MAF and was one of my goals before we left Uganda (if we ever leave Uganda).  Simon picked me up on the way to Kajjansi and while he was pre-flighting the 206 (it wasn't going to be a fast flight)  I talked with some of the team members from MAF Holland who were visiting...

Since returning from furlough I have restarted the Bible studies.  This time we are doing things a bit different in that we are going through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  We, obviously, can't go quite as deep as we would if we were just taking one book at a time but the idea is that we will see the big picture of what the Bible is all about. The International group always seems to change each time due to the ever transient ex-pat community.  However, as good friends leave new friends come and we have been blessed with new people this term. This week and next we will be looking at the story of Abraham.  It is a fascinating story and much can be learned from his life for us today.  As I was studying today one of the main things that seemed to pop out was the fact that we can't rush God.  God has a plan for our lives and we so often want to hurry God and help Him along.  When that happens it seems to go quite pear shaped.  We see this w...

Thank you to all of you who prayed for Simon last week on his trip to Tanzania and Rwanda.  The flight time was long and the weather proved a challenge but everything went as planned.  The group that he flew were able to complete what they wanted so mission accomplished.  We were glad to have him safely back on Wednesday evening.  He did take some photos which I hope to post once I have downloaded them off his phone :) This month has been a busy month for visitors not only personally but also for MAF Uganda generally.  Last week we had a team from MAF Denmark visit the programme.  Many of whom had never visited the field before but took an opportunity to come and visit and see what it was like for themselves.  They were able to go on a MAF flight as well as take in some local sights.  A MAF colleague and I took three of the ladies to one of the Christian Martyrs Shrine just outside of Kampala.  This gave the history of 22 martyrs ...

Some details in this post have been left out for privacy purposes.  The names used have also been changed. You never quite know what a day will bring.  Last Friday John who does some work for us and another MAF family came to me to tell me that his wife Sarah wasn't doing well healthwise.  She was pregnant and had been having trouble with high blood pressure.  I sent him home so he could take his wife to the hospital.  Later that afternoon he called me to tell me that the doctors had confirmed that their baby had died.  This was going to be their first child.  Anyone who has lost a child will be able to identify with this family in their grief and sorrow.  A friend and I went into the hospital on Saturday to be with John and Sarah during this difficult time.  Due to them not being from Uganda they didn't have many family members around them for support.  We arrived to find his wife Sarah in a room with 3 other ladies and coming to...

 A beautiful part of the world - Bonnie Scotland Who says the weather is not good enough in Scotland for some time on the beach? :) Joshua and Zara look more ready for a trip to the moon with those helmets rather than karting A wee trip to a Highland Games - Tossing the caber was one of the competitions Joshua and Simon on the boat to visit the seals This was the 1st August in Switzerland.  Waiting for the fireworks to start. Joshua and Zara with Alison Haswell.  Alison was their first teacher at Rainbow International in Uganda but who has since moved onto work at a school in Switzerland.  We were able to catch up with her and her family in Bern, Switzerland.  It was a lot of fun to hang out together again.  Joshua and Zara really enjoyed it and we got to meet wee Emily Zara! The bears in Bern Joshua and Zara enjoying an ice cream before their hike in the Swiss Alps. Due to an u...

Since returning from furlough life has been a bit of a sprint.  The Apostle Paul likened life to a race but more of a marathon that a 100m dash over and over again.  I am hoping that from now it will be more like a steady marathon.  Time will tell. :) Since I last wrote we have had friends stay with us who now work on the western side of Uganda who needed to renew their visa for living in Uganda.  These things are never straightforward but thankfully they were able to get it by going to Rwanda and then coming back into Uganda again.  I think, however, they had more faith than I did because they opted to take the bus.  Not sure they will repeat the experience in a hurry though. We also have had MAF's Pastor Care member, Tony Horsfall, staying with us for a week as he met with all the MAF Uganda families as well as leading our Fellowship Day last Friday and our first MAF Uganda retreat at the weekend.  Tony worked through the book of Nehemiah. ...

I am now back in Kampala after spending 4 days in Nairobi last week with the Advisory Council for MMCT EA(Mobile Member Care Team East Africa).  This was a first for MMCT EA (made up of 2 staff members currently) to have such an Advisory Council and it was a blessing to be part of the group.  There were 4 Advisory Council members there full time, one person joined us who was passing through Nairobi from Sudan onto Thailand (and I thought I had a crazy week of travelling) and then we had two people join us via skype for one part of it.  It was a rich environment and lots of ideas were put forward aswell as gathering additional resources for our member care roles within our organisations.  There was time for prayer and worship, showing how far MMCT EA has come, staffing needs, tactical planning, signs to look out for when a person might need professional help and looking at the member care needs of hot spots in Africa to name but a few. ...

After a unplanned stop in London for two days we finally made it back to Uganda.  On arriving at Zurich airport we were told that we would miss our connecting flight to Uganda due to the delay of the British Airways flight to London.  The reasons we were given for this was bad weather or a closed runway at Heathrow.  We never found out which one it was.  Anyway British Airways gave us the options of re-routing through Johannesburg and picking up a flight there to Uganda or waiting two days and flying direct from London to Entebbe.  We opted for the latter.  The thoughts of sitting on a plane all those hours didn't inspire us at all. We made use of our time in London as we had one full day.  We took a bus tour round London and saw many of the sights that I had only seen on TV.  Yes, I had never been in the centre of London before.  I know it sounds crazy but the opportunity never presented itself and there were always other places to go. Any...

It has been some time since I have updated our blog.  I am not sure where the time goes whilst on furlough.  We are now in Switzerland and are half way through our time here.  We had a good visit with people in Scotland for one month and enjoyed catching up with family and friends.  We spoke at two regional speaking events, one in Dundee and one in Edinburgh.  We were also able to have the MAF Flight simulator at the Dundee event which gave people an idea of what it is like to fly with MAF.  Thankfully if you don`t land well no damage is done unlike the real thing :).  I also had a shot at it and I don`t think Simon will be calling me to be his co-pilot anytime soon.  As always there is never enough time to get round everyone but hopefully if we didn`t see you this furlough we will on our next trip. Our time in Switzerland has been made up of meetings, medical checks, new passports for Simon, Joshua and Zara and other bits and pieces. ...

Last week Simon and another Swiss pilot, Hansjoerg Schlatter landed for the first time at a brand new airstrip at Ibba in Southern Sudan. This airstrip has been built by the Diosese of Ibba to help the people there who have such difficulty with transport in that remote area. I have included some photos of this event to give you an idea of what it looks like.  It is amazing the difference an airstrip can make to a remote area. The first landing of an aircraft and it was a MAF one :) A group photo of all the people that attended the opening ceremony Simon walking the airstrip to measure it out. The speeches at the opening ceremony Yesterday (Sunday) we were able to respond to a request from International Hospital to medevac a patient from Mweya. A man had a complicated fracture of his leg. He had previously had a hip replacement operation and he had stepped wrongly and fell causing his leg to twist and break. The flight time from Mweya was 1Hr 15 minutes. The altern...

Last week I attended a week long course on Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills (SYIS)  by the Mobile Member Care Team (MMCT).  This course is designed that those who go through it might help others in their own organisation.  The task it too big to rely solely on professional care-givers and so Christian leaders must take some responsibility also to help those who struggle both with personal, interpersonal and work related problems. Some of the areas we covered this past week were: Looking at relationship killers Listening skills Drawing people out Helping other solves problems Confronting well including receiving confrontation well Building trust Lving in community Managing conflicts Helping others grieve well Managing stress Maintaining margin The battle for moral purity Being an encourager The course was designed with lots of interaction, practice times, discussions, as well as theory.  Now the big question is what do I do wi...

I am not sure where the time has gone in 2011 as it feels like Christmas wasn't that long ago.  Be that as it may the reality is that we are in now in the month of May and our furlough starts in June. We have been looking at ways to make our furlough more efficient in the sense of getting round to see as many people as we can.  We appreciate that many of you support us both in prayer and through finances and that it would be good for us to touch base with you.  The way that we are going to do that is to have two regional events, one in Dundee and one in Edinburgh.  The one in Dundee will be held at Broughty Ferry Baptist Church and the one in Edinburgh will be at Wester Hailes Baptist Church. If you would like to attend either one of these events then the dates and times are noted below:- Broughty Ferry Baptist Church Dundee area Scotland 28 June 2011 7:30pm Wester Hailes Baptist Church Edinburgh Scotland 3 July 2011 4pm We will also be speaking at ...

Usually when I ask Simon how his day has gone I get the standard answer fine, went either according to plan or almost :).  Yesterday when I asked him the same question he said yes ok although one of the planes had a problem with its alternator and had to cut short its flight and return to MAF's aistrip in order to be fixed.    However, the pilot returned the plane and picked up another plane to complete some of the stops.  Due to this Simon's day didn't turn out as it was originally planned and a lot of dialogue went on to ensure that passengers weren't inconvenienced too much by this unplanned problem and help was given by the staff in Juba, Sudan also in order for the passengers to make it to their intended destination. Today Simon was supposed to fly to Bunia, East DRC but the days plan changed again as the MAF Congo team's plane was in for maintenance and couldn't complete a flight that had been planned for.  Simon picked up t...

Some of you might remember last year I did a course with the Mobile Member Care Team on How to Manage Crisis.  This was a course designed to help people who have gone through a trauma whether it be within their own mission but not limited to.  We addressed issues such as grief and loss, chronic stress, burnout, anxiety and depression to list just a few.  It was a very helpful course and so I have been working towards becoming a peer responder.  One who would be a point of contact to help someone manage a crisis that they have just gone through or presently going through.  In two weeks time I will be attending another course by the Mobile Member Care Team on Sharpening your Interpersonal Skill (SYIS).  During this time I will be discussing with MMCT how I can get more involved in this line of work.  The plan is to then be able to develop this kind of support within MAF if a need arises.  More talks on how this would work will be addressed with...

We are getting used to Uganda having security issues but last Friday went to a whole new level.  There was widespread chaos around Kampala which you can read about in detail on the BBC or other news websites.  This would not be the right place to talk politics :)  The results for us and for many meant that we were to stay at home until it subsdided.  Thankfully we were getting regular updates from the B* High Commission as to where to avoid and where the main problem areas were.  For some weeks now there has been a strong police presence and that is unlikely to go away anytime soon. Simon ended up doing an extra flight to Congo in the afternoon due to the pilot who was scheduled to do the flight not being able to get to the airstrip because of the insecurity.  Simon on his way home from the airstrip witnessed the aftermath of rioting on Entebbe Road with rocks and evidence of burning tyres etc. Doesn't seem to take long before a situation can...

It has been a while since I have given an update and that is largely due to Joshua, Zara and I being unwell and then having some holidays in the west of Uganda for the Easter school break. Prior to the holidays Joshua first of all came down with a stomach bug which lasted about a week on and off.  Then Zara and I came down with it.  Thankfully Joshua and Zara only had a stomach bug and it righted itself within in a few days although Zara was given medication from the doctor to stop her being sick.  I, unfortunately, had an amoeba (will let you google that one :).  I haven't felt that sick in a long time.  The medication also had some side effects so it took a while to get over it.  Thankfully, as of today we are all healthy again. Simon and I took some days off while Joshua and Zara were on school break.  We headed with our tent to the west of Uganda to Lake Albert.  It took us 3 hours on a tarmac road and then a further 2 hours on a dirt road...

Joshua and Zara playing before they go on the Northern shuttle flight round Uganda  Simon preflighting the plane and getting the plane ready for the arrival of passengers  Showing our position on one of the legs of our flight  Flying over a village on our way to Kaabong  Kaabong airstrip which looked more like a disused path from the air  More scenery as we were flying from place to place  Joshua enjoying some time outside the plane at Kaabong   Kalongo - one of the first places I flew to when I arrived in Uganda over 9 years ago   Children excited at the arrival of a plane.  Simon had a challenge keeping them away from the plane when he started up again.  Thankfully security came and were able to move them out of harms way.  A boy taking a stroll along the airstrip coming to see what all the commotion was about.       Zara stretching her legs when we arrived at Kaabong Du...

On Friday we have elections here in Kampala. So far it has been peaceful and there have been no cases of riots. This week we are seeing more and more rallies taking place as the time gets closer to people voting. Today we had the opposition leader speaking at a rally round the corner from our house. Apart from being loud and busy things went well as far as we know. Museveni (current President) brought parts of downtown to a standstill today as he went on his campaign trail. We would value your prayers that the situation would remain peaceful during the voting process and the results would be fair and a correct representation of how people voted. Pray also that the opposition of whoever gets in will accept the decision and not retaliate with violence. Joshua and Zara have a week off from school starting Wednesday for half term but also an extension added on because of the elections. They are not complaining :) We have made provision in case things do go pear shaped in stocking up...

Landing at Kidepo in "Scotty" One of the two pick up trucks that we went in for our morning safari. You can see Zara in her pink rain jacket sitting on the cab of the truck....who needs seats :) Daddy and his little Princess In search of lions..... Joshua our junior tracker found some antelope like animals African vulture A herd of giraffe which included a baby one....not shown in this photo. A buffalo with an interesting horn decoration Our home for two nights. Bulbul the elephant who hangs around the bandas on occasions. He was on a mission to find some food and had smelled some pineapple. I wasn't about to stand in his way. This is him finding the kitchen entrance, he drank all the water that was lying out in a bucket as well as trying to get into the kitchen for the pineapple. He also raided the bin and made a lovely mess. Who is going to tell him off? One way to get rid of him is to light a fire which one of the staff members did. He then trundled off. Joshu...