Thank you!

We had such an amazing week up in Sacramento with everyone. I just want to thank Emily, Grace and Grandma Louise in particular for watching all of our little guys and giving me a hand when I was there. They had so much fun at the park, exploring the tadpoles, going to see Toy Story 3, and just enjoying the yard. We don't get to see you as often as we would like and it's always such a treat to be there. We can't wait to come back again!
xox

Update #6 from Uganda

Hey Everyone,

I am having such a great week! Sunday, I was able to go to church here for the first time. The people here are so wonderful and humble. They love Heavenly Father and they feel so blessed in so many ways. It reminds me of how incredibly blessed I am. The church is run the same was as it is at home. It is neat to see how the church is so well run all over the world.

Monday, I was able to start my first teacher training. I have 10 people attending my class and they seem to be very receptive to my teaching. I have been teaching a lot about classroom management and disicipline strategies. The teachers here beat children when they misbehave and have difficulties regulating their students because there are so many in a classrom. I have spent time observing classrooms and adapting curriculum for them. It has been such a rewarding experience. I hope that it helps in a small way for them to become better teachers.

Tuesday, I had a really interesting day.... I am working with another girl from the U.S. that is also a teacher, but she is a special education teacher that specializes in Autism. We have began Outreaches where we visit schools and assess needs of the students with disabilities. The teachers here do not have a lot of resources therefore, we have began teaching trainings and in class support for students with disabilities. Then we traveled with one teacher to local villages to visit families of children with cerebral palsey... This children were not born with cerebral palsey but got malaria with high fevers and turned into cerebral palsey. These women are trapped in their homes and have no way to get support for their children. It is very sad... The women have multiple children and their husbands have deserted them because they cannot handle the handicap children. Because of this experience we are begining the process of facilitating and outreach clinic where we will bring together all of the parents of parents with severely disabled children to learn hygiene, physical therapy techniques, and to bring in drs for support. We are excited to help these women in any way possible. They feel so alone because they know no one that has children with severe disabilities... We are hoping to give them some strength and support.

Today is Wednesday and I spent the first 3 hours doing laundry.... I will never whine about doing laundry at home ever again. I literally had 3 buckets full of water, soaking, scrubbing, and rinsing. I think I am only doing laundry once. I would rather just be stinky.... But, as I do basic household things here I appreciate the culture here so much more. Cooking on Sunday was overhwelming 4 1/2 hours later we had a very minimal meal. I am off to teach teacher training again in a few minutes.... I am very excited.

Things here continue to be fantastic! I have 3 weeks from today. I can't believe how fast time seems to be going. I have so much I can do here! Thank you Sam for emailing me back. I am glad you are doing well and had fun at camp. I was thinking you didn't like me anymore. I am glad everyone is well and happy. Thank you for the emails, they make me smile!

Love you,

Jen

Kids

The kids and I headed up to Baltimore, MD yesterday with our friends from Oxford, England to go to the National Aquarium. It was so wonderful...we saw the dolphins, jellyfish, multi colored frogs, turtles, sharks, fish, and much more. As we walked out of the museum, we found a grassy area for a picnic, and shortly after we started eating we noticed some very dark clouds approaching us. We decided to head to the car, and no sooner than we got in the parking garage did it start pouring rain with hail. Pretty cool! This meant for a hairy drive home, merely 2 hours later still on the road, we decided to call & meet Dad after he got off work and ride with him the rest of the way home. Phew...we had a great day though!

We have been able to see so much here, and really explore so much around the area. We love it!

Here is a picture from a few weeks ago of these cute kids...

Update #5 from Uganda

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are not getting sick of hearing from me! I am just so excited about my experiences here that I love to share.... First of all, thank you for your emails and updates from home. I love to know what everyone is doing there. Well, I have completed two whole weeks here... The days are so long, yet the weeks are flying by. I am going to give you a little recap of my last few days.

I believe I already mentioned earlier this week the eye camps we helped to facilitate... That was absolutely amazing and so wonderful to see people recieve care they were so much in need of. It cost $1,000 only to have about 330 eye exams ,18 cataract surgeries and over 150 glasses were handed out.

Then Thursday was quite an outrageous experience... I am not sure if that is the greatest word choice, but let me in the best way possible describe our day. We are working with and a women's group here called CCWA that helps with AIDS outreach and sponsoring orphan children to go to school. We had invited 6 primary schools and 2 secondary schools to a Soccer tournament, during the soccer tournament we would be doing trainings with parents (if the children had them), teachers, students... Well, we were trying to just invite portion of the schools to have a total of 240, but instead we had over 1,200 students. But, we adjusted and succeeded. The trainings were awesome, the food was amazing, and people were recpetive. We also, played a soccer game CCWA vs. Muzungus (white people) you would have thought it was the world cup... People were cheering and yelling and we won! Exciting! It was a fantastic day... I taped the children cheering they were wonderful.

Friday, was probably the hardest day I have had here... We coordinated/organized an dental camp for a school that had over 900 orphan children that had never visited a dentist before. We brought down dentists from Kampala that donated services and we provided all the supplies. These children had never seen a dentist before and many had rotten teeth. I helped all day in the room where the children were walling/screaming because they were so hurt and scared. They had rotten teeth and they could not just give them a filling, so they had to extract their teeth and sometimes it was more than just one... It was overwhelming. But, It was preventative medicine!

Anyhow, things are so good... Hard yet, good! Funny story, yesterday we were at this school where the head mistress made this huge lunch... I mean huge heaping amounts of Ugandan food... It was the hardest thing to eat the posho, matoki, meat (not sure, I think it was goat) I wasn't eating fast enough and she told me get eating it was very scary... I didn't want to insult them.. So I pretended to eat without gagging it up!

Last, amazing event... Last night we attended a goat roasting/ bonfire at a local elementary school... There is nothing like dancing Ugandan children singing and clapping.. It was so wonderul. I have never smiled so much in my life... it did make me extremely nervous hoping that students were not going to fall in the fire. But, the dancing and singing was so special.

Well, I need to go... I love you all so very much... Thank you for all your prayers and love and support! I hope to hear from you soon! I am excited to go to church tomorrow... I hope mom, dad, and Rachel had fun at camp. I can't wait to hear about it... I hope Rebecca and family are having fun. And kids swim lots and make sure there is a lifeguard. Love you so much!

Love,

Jen

Update #4 from Uganda

Hello Everyone,

I just wrote an extensive email and it just delete tthe frusration of internet in a 3rd world country.... But anyhow, things are going so well.. Grandpa thank you for the emails, the reason you couldn't find Sipi falls was because I had spelled it wrong... I also have seen Lake Victoria. I have seen lots of wonderful things as I have traveled around villages teaching health/hygiene lessons. I am learning so much and learning to better adjust to the culture.

This week we have been involved in coordinating Eye Camps where we brought together surgeons, nurses, and doctors from Kampala to screen over 350 people. We were able to perform 20 cataract surgeries, hand uut 200 pair of glasses, and many medications. This was an amazing experience and allowed me to really see the extent of the deprived health care here. But it was great to see people get the gift of sight. It was wonderful to be a small part of it. I also got to watch a cataract surgery. WOW! That was gross yet interesting at the same time.

Tomorrow we are doing a large football (soccer) tournament with schools where we will be doing an AIDS outreach and teaching. I will be teaching teacher trainings to 30 plus teachers. Which, I am very excited about. I am adjusting and learning to love it that much more here. I am happy! But, I sure do miss home.

By the way the weather is very humid in the day but nights are windy and cool. I really enjoy the food, mango salsa especially I will have to make it for everyone when I get home. Rebecca and Carl have fun on your vacation and Chris keep getting better with your teeth. Kids keep being good! I am also dancing in a festival next week to show an american dance. This showed be fun! Anyhow, I love you and miss you! I will write soon! Write back, I love to hear from you,

Love you,

Jen

Update #3 from Uganda

Hello Everyone,
Thank you so much for your encouraging thoughts and emails... It is so wonderful to hear from you! I apologize for not writing back individually the internet here is very unreliable.

I wanted to wish all the fathers a Happy Father's Day! You are all such amazing men and have so much to give. Being here I realize how truly blessed I am with a father that has taught me to appreciate and love others and to work hard. I love you dad!

I have had another wonderful few days... With the organization I am with we get weekends off and so 10 of the volunteers decided to go travel to a national park called Siepe Falls which is about a 6 hour taxi drive... Now this taxi is not like anything you can imagine we had 21 people and 3 live chicken with no air conditioning on a dirt road for hours.... The best was it began to rain, not a little rain but massive amounts as we arrived in the dark in Siepe Falls. After our "safe" arrival we stayed at a quaint little campsite where we slept in adobe huts, with grass roots. It was as authentic as possible in Uganda. It has mosquito nets which was good. Then we hiked the most incredible waterfalls in the Rain Forest, I thought I had died and gone to heaven except for the muddy trail, I have pictures of what I looked like at the end. We ate at shacks with no electricity but the food was great. It was a wonderful journey we arrived home yesterday Sunday after a long taxi ride. We did eat at a restaurant where I had a brownie, I have never tasted a brownie that tasted so good.

Today I have already taught a health lesson to students on hand washing and proper hygiene. I met with the head master and he has asked me to come back and teach more. It was wonderful to talk to him about his philosophy of education and how U.S. schools compare to his school. I am currently developing a teacher training curriculum to start teaching next week.

This week is going to be amazing we are doing two eye camps this week where we are working with doctors from Kampala on helping people with cataract surgery. I need to go but I will write soon!

Love you,
Jen

Happy Birthday Faith!

I know your birthday isnt until Saturday, but we wanted to say Happy Birthday Faith!

We hope you have a great and special day!

We love you!

Update #2 from Uganda

P.S. Rachel if you get this right now have mom get on a chat with me! Teach her how! I will be on for a few minutes.....

Hello,

Mom thank you so much for the updates. I am glad you finished the food list for camp. I wish I could go with you guys! You will do amazing! I am glad everyone is good and happy! Tell dad he better write me back! Also, a few logistics that phone number I text dad on Sunday if you get an international phone card you can call me any time on it. It actually earns minutes for the people if you call. Call in the morning because it is my night time. I am still trying to get one here, but I have been so busy I have not made it to the store. Everything is so far away and I have to ride those yucky Boda Boda's which a hate...By the way my feet a beginning to heel I had 7 blisters in all. I clean them everyday and rebandage. You would be proud dad!

It is about 5:00pm here I completed my third day here. Yesterday was phenenomenal, I visited 9 schools in the bush area... we are planning a large soccer tournament with an AIDS awareness/health fair for next week. I met with the head masters which are the prinicipals at all schools. The schools fancinate me and I am in love with the children. They greet you and pet your arms. But, the schools are so very deprived and lack anything you could possible imagine. Children are barely clothed and have no shoes on as they run through the bush areas. But, the people are so excited for trainings...they really want the best for the children most of the children are orphans and have no shoes. We are also doing research as we visit the schools in order to try to get a TOM's shoe drop here next summer. I have some incredible pictures of these schools and people. Words cannot describe them or the lives they endure happily. Yesterday, I had to eat street food in the middle of nowhere I was little a little frightened but I ordered chips (french fries) pretty safe I think....Not healthy but safe.

Today, I was able to go to two more schools and teach health and hygiene lessons. I taught about hand washing and we are helping one school put in a hand washing station. I love the public health aspect of this program. It is such a good thing. Then we helped a secondary school to prepare for a festival to teach primary schools about AIDS awareness and health issues. These people are trully wonderful. I am having a fantastic time. It is so humid and my stomach is a little sick but things are good. This weekend we are going to Siepe Falls (not sure if I spelled it right to go hiking).

Mom you asked if I went to church on Sunday, we got here too late but I am excited to go on Sunday. I miss you each dearly. Thank you for your prayers and love and support. Mom, please get a calling card and call. I would love to talk! How is everyone, please email updates even if they are just silly ones. If I didn't put everyone on the email please let them know.... I am not sure Jaynann is on the list. Again, I love you! This is experience is great. I know Heavenly Father loves me and all of his children! Talk to to you soon!.

Love and miss you,

Jen

Update from Uganda #1

Hello Everyone,

So, as you may see my phone is not working here and electricity is scarce.... I came to the internet cafe twice in the last two days and there was no electricity! So, I am glad to hear Zander's surgery went well and Rachel is lifeguarding:) I miss you guys!

I am doing really well! I had my first full day here yesterday and it was absolutely amazing. I started the day by going to schools near our house. They are primary or elementary schools. They are so amazing yet sad at the same time. They are brick buildings off in the middle of nowhere with no electricity. Teachers are teaching with no curriculum and students have no supplies. Some classes have 30 to 60 classes and often multiple grade levels are together.It was overwhelming to me, but the children were attentive, respectful, and excited about learning. I help teach and work with the children after school they taught me a game called net ball.... I will have to start it in the U.S. The kids mostly live in boarding schools and put it this way I was there afterschool until 5:oo and they had not had lunch. I am amazed by the children they yell "Bye Muzango" every time they see a white person. It is so cute. I also went to the grocery store, and the market amazing.... Dad remember the picture I showed you of the market it is just like it.. I little intense. But I am being safe don't worry.

I know mom wants to know what I have been eating....My snacks from home and wonderful potatoes, beans, and lots of everything. Squash, pinnapple, bananas which are amazing! I am ate some street food but don't tell dad! It was really good. I am having a great time. It is for sure challenging and overwhelming. The people here are amazingly kind. I rode on a BodaBoda today, and I almost had a heart attack it is crazy a little motocycle no helmets nothing. I know scary.... I have terrible blisters today, so humid here my feet rubbed weird but it should be fine! I do love you so much! I am so blessed in ways I never quite grasped! Thank you for your prayers, love and support! I will try to write more often but like a said my phone doesn't work and the internet is half hour away. I am going to buy an international phone that only costs $0.25 per minute.... I hope everything is going well at home.

Love you,

Jen

Happy Birthday Melissa!

I don't think I can adequately outline here the amazing load that Melissa carries with grace each and every day. She is a top notch mother, taking care of our brood of little monkeys in a housing situation that is too small with neighbors that aren't always the most understanding. She takes the time to teach joy school, shuttle them to and from play-dates, classes and other activities. She's always working to teach them, to nurture them and to love them. She is a great mother.

She also works a demanding part time job as a freelance editor for the church, cutting together amazing stories of faith and devotion. They have been a source of inspiration for our whole family and I'm so glad she continues to keep her professional skills sharp. She is definitely the best editor I know.

Additionally, she teaches gospel doctrine in our ward, which is filled with the highly educated and opinionated. She does an outstanding job and takes tremendous pains to be prepared. Her lessons are always fabulous.

She does so many other things too; fantastic scrapbooking and journalling, awesome friend to many of the other young mothers in the ward, 5k runner, the list goes on. That said, the thing I'm most grateful for is how loving and supportive she is of me. I wouldn't be the man that I am, without this wonderful woman. Thank you, Melissa! I love you! Have the best birthday in the world!

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Happy Birthday Melissa!

We hope you have a great day!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Happy Birthday Gabe!

Liam says "Happy Birfdaay!"

Have a great day!