"We weesh you a Meddy Chreestmas"

With our new Ugandan accent

 December 15-21, 2025 

Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10-11

We are trying to get into the Christmas spirit even though not much happens here.  We bought a few Christmas presents.  We visited Florence and gave her two 6x7 inch photos of pictures we had taken of Esther, Israel, Mama Ellen and Florence. She was very pleased.  Israel got a wooden car and Ester a set of wooden blocks.  The kids enjoyed playing with the new things.  We invited them to come to a ward Christmas party but Florence takes care of the shop alone and only gets some time on Sunday's to go to church. She couldn't come.

The Nephews

We worked with Geoffrey's nephews again.  Eleven boys were there.  Only four of the eleven don't attend school so we focused on those boys, the others we used as helpers.  We worked on the next letter of the alphabet and then asked them to put their name on their paper and realized a lot of them don't know how to spell their name.  We quickly determined that spelling their names would be the next lesson.  We taught them to play "Simon Says", the games seem to be the highlight for many of them which isn't that different from home, kids like recess the best.  

Brick Making Season

Packing mud into forms to make bricks.

 

The boys carry the new bricks in the forms to a flat piece of ground,.

For a couple of days every time we drove away or returned to our home we saw a group of older boys making bricks. They turn the dirt into mud and then use a form to make the mud into bricks.  Next they lay the bricks out across the ground to dry out.  Once they have dried they will be stacked for use to build the next structure they are planning to construct.  They were covered with mud from head to toe.  They are hard workers and do not seem to complain.  We could use some of their work ethic in our youth in the USA.

New School Location

Walking with Calvin and Samantha to the new property.

The land for the new school

After missing seeing Calvin and Eunice last week we were able to see them again.  They were able to show us the land they have purchased for their new school.  It is very good.  1.5 acres further back but not too far from the main road.  It will be safer for the children and there will be less traffic noise to contend with. The ground will need to be cleared and leveled. Temporary shelters will be built for now, then permanent structures will be put up.

Literacy Class

We taught the ladies at Lacor English class.  We continue to break into two groups.  I took the higher level and challenged them by giving them a small number of letter cards and having them try to make words.  This was a good test for them and made them think about their learning.  Sister Kaiser planned a practical lesson which involved a bag full of common items; the women told her what they are called in Acholi and then she taught them how to say their name in English.  

Traditional Marriage

Approaching the bride price negotiations.

We were invited to a traditional Acholi wedding.  On Friday night we went to the presentation of the dowry and the negotiations for the bride price.  We were told it would start at 6, we met another member who helped us find the home at 8 PM but nothing was taking place, so we returned home.  We went back at 10:30pm and had a good conversation with another member as we waited until 12:45am for the process to begin.  

First the grooms male family members had to approach an enter the bride's home but there is a tradition that they must execute, they take off their shoes, get down on their knees and walk on their knees with their gifts to the home. Once inside they crawl to a spot along the wall and sit with their backs to the wall facing the brides family members. After introductions the negotiations for the bride price begin.  There was a lot of conversation back and forth about what price was expected of the groom and if all the material items requested meet the requirements.  It's a game, there is a lot of money is given.  They not only negotiate the price of the bride but if there are children between the couple then they also have to pay for each child.  Technically they think the children belong to the woman and her family.  All of this haggling can go on for a very long time. It is common for men and women to cohabitate since it takes the man a long time to be able to save up the dowry and bride price amount. The couple who invited us to attend had already wed in a church but that is not as common, the standard is that the groom pays a small portion of the bride price and then the couple cohabitates until the rest of the dowry can be collected. It often takes many years.  

The grand entrance of the grooms family

Looking among the maids for the bride.

Finally, the bride and groom are together!

We finally left at 1:45 am. The next day our friend told us that negotiations ended at 3:30am. For a people who have so little and struggle to make ends meet, we could not believe the amount of money being expected and given to complete the negotiations and have the marriage move forward.  We went back the next day for the cultural wedding.  It began with an Aunt having to find the husband, her nephew, who was hidden among the guests.  Then he had to find his bride among different groups of maidens who arrived dancing then knelt down on a mat where the grooms men searched in behalf of the groom for the bride.  Each group of maids had to be paid to leave. It was a long process with dancing coming and going. Finally the bride was discovered among the maids and the couple then presented themselves to the husbands family. They exchanged rings, had pictures with guests and were given presents. Then the food was served.  It was an all day affair.  

Office Marriage

Stella and Vincent, the happy couple.

Also, on Saturday morning we picked up Vincent and Stella and their kids and took them to the church for their wedding.  We were very happy for Stella as she really wants to go to the temple.  She attended the temple preparation class we taught and was saddened to find out that she could not attend the temple until she was married to her man. (It was complicated).  We told her to pray and expect miracles.  Miracles happened. Vincent agreed to be married and will soon begin the missionary discussions.  We pray that they can eventually go to the temple together and be sealed.

Church at Bardege 1 and 2 Wards

When we arrived at church at Bardege 1 Ward on Sunday we were asked us to teach the adult Sunday school class.  That weeks lesson was on The Family: A Proclamation to the World. We had read it and discussed it earlier that week so lesson preparation was not hard. We did have one brother translate to Acholi and I translated to French which created a shorter lesson but more people had access to the lesson in a language they know.

Next we went to Bardege 2 War next where Geoffrey and the nephews go to church. From what we have observed the boys are not monitored by adults for most of their day, except Geoffrey, who cannot see what the boys are doing.   Sister Kaiser gathered them up and sat them down closer to the front of the chapel and told me we would sit with the "Army of Helaman".  They were much better with us around them.  They need training, support and structure.  They liked it when we would point to the words in the song book as we sang.  Sister Kaiser thinks we need to keep attending this ward to help them develop a good habit of behavior. 

After Sacrament meeting and ended up co-teaching youth Sunday School. The teacher had just been called as the teacher and had been away at school. He didn't know where to begin. We focused on different parts of the Family Proclamation with the youth.  We like to teach and are happy to help out. After church we attended a baptism where 2 of the people being baptized were from the youth Sunday school class we had just taught. 

Fun stuff:

But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer the little children to come unto me,

 and forbid them not:for of such is the kingdom of God.

Luke 18:16

                                                                        The neighbors

The children here love to see us and do things with us. The neighbor children will run out to greet us when the hear the truck coming and ask if we can come play. Children like to wave to us and if we are close they are happy to shake our hands or give us bonga (knuckles). Our new buddy is the daughter of the bishop of the Gulu Ward  She runs to us whenever she sees us and wants to take us on walks or sit with us, little brother does what big sister does so we usually get 2 little buddies.