How do we celebrate Christmas in Uganda?

It is Christmas morning in Kampala, Uganda and we bounded out of bed at 5:55 A.M. as we had planned to SKYPE as a family.  Ammon and Paige and their families were all together and Megan and Garrett were going to connect by internet...BUT... we had no internet connection in Africa.  That is a rather frequent occurrence so it was no surprise.  In fact we have a saying:  "T.A.B." and it means "That's Africa Baby."

 BUT...where else could you harvest fresh mangos off the tree outside your apartment on Christmas morning?

Some were able to be snagged standing on the ground, but others were reached off our deck by Ray and off the stairs by the missionaries. 

One of our guards (Justus) had rigged up a long tree branch with a wire loop on the end.  One person had to play center field and catch them before they hit the ground. It was a fun morning and each apartment now has a fresh mango to enjoy.

Our mango harvest for today

Two of our sister missionaries

We do not have a Christmas tree but we have a nativity set that is from Rwanda.  All the characters have African features and will be a great keepsake.  It is wooden and hand carved.


Yesterday was such a fun day.  We all met at the Mission Home at 11 A.M. for a Christmas Party.
There were 65 of us.  There was not enough room in the house for everyone and so the President had rented a large tent and chairs for outside. Sister Chatfield had ordered pizza for lunch and we got a picture of 1/2 of it arriving on the back of a boda boda (motorcycle). 

It was "buy one and get one free" day and so she order 1 pizza for each person.  The missionaries were in heaven... a whole pizza to themselves.  The Elders finished theirs, but the sisters and couples all had left over pizza to bring home and enjoy.

After lunch we played "Minute to Win It."  What a hoot!  Everyone had fun.  We could have prepared a lot more of the "Minute to Win It" games as they loved them and we had zones and districts compete against each other.  They even started working together as companionships and tried to beat other companionships.

Remember the one where you stack 36 plastic cups in triangle form and then have to take it down so all the cups are back in a stack?  Well...our mission record was 35 seconds!

There was also a soccer game going in the yard (our African Elders have all grown up playing soccer and they are pretty good.  Ugandans love soccer)There were also board games going inside the house and outside.

Our President was a banker but a cowboy at heart.  He did a lot of rodeo riding when he was younger and still trains horses to compete in calf roping.  He is always willing to teach the missionaries how to rope.

Ray succeeded in roping the chair! (That was the pretend cow)










We ended the day with a Christmas devotional and each zone presented a Christmas song.  They were darn good.  Africans love to sing and so do most of our American Elders and they sounded amazing.  They even had solo parts.







For dinner Sister Chatfield had ordered KFC as it just opened in Kampala.  There is not much meat on chickens here and so it was mostly bones and coating.  But, I have to say...it remind us of home.  I think the African missionaries wondered what we saw in KFC.  They probably would have preferred matooke (steamed green bananas) and posho (a spongy bread).  With the chicken we had funeral potatoes, peas and carrots, salad, and rolls. For dessert we had the missionary favorite...ice cream and chocolate chip cookies.  There is never a drop of food left with missionaries around.

It was a fun, fun day.  Today the missionaries are all anxious to call home and talk with family.
As for us, all the couples are going to enjoy turkey dinner at the Sheraton... not having to cook will be a MERRY CHRISTMAS.