Geoffrey (our driver for the medical clinics the last four years and Kathy's assistant in the eye glasses clinics) picked us up at 8:00 to drive to Bukasa (an hour and a half away) to preach at his mother's church and thus began our Day of Firsts.

First time we had met Geoffrey's wife, Alice.  In the many times we have been with Geoffrey the past four years, we had never met his wife, Alice.  We were very please to discover she was going to Bukasa with us.  As we imagined, she is beautiful and has the gifts of hospitality and service.

First time a Muzungu (white person) had been in Geoffrey's mom's house.  When we got to Bukasa, we stopped briefly at the church for introductions to the  pastor and then on to Geoffrey's mother's house for a brief visit before the church service.  When we first arrived, I have never been greeted with such excitement.  I couldn't understand a word she was saying, but it was obvious she was glad to see us.  Again, treated like royalty.  We were ushered into the living room of her home and served hot tea and a snack.

First time a Muzungu had every been in the Bukasa church, and, of course, the first time a Muzungu had every preached there.  You would never have known it by the royal way we were treated by everyone in the congregation.  It began when we got out of the van...two young people immediately came up to us, took our Bibles and Kathy's purse and carried them into the church for us.  When we walked in the door, they began clapping and clapped until we arrived at our special seats up front.  This kind of royal treatment continued throughout the service.

First time my preaching has gotten the kind of attention it received in Bukasa.  I referenced several different scriptures during my sermon about Jesus being the Light of the World.  Kathy said she could hear the flipping of pages every time I referenced a new scripture.

First time we have every received a rooster as a gift.  Following the church service, we loaded back up into the van and drove the short distance to Geoffrey's mom's house for lunch, except it wasn't lunch, it was a feast.  Again, treated like royalty.  It was a great time of food, as well as fellowship with Geoffrey's family.  As we were saying our goodbyes and exchanging hugs, Geoffrey's came up to us carrying a rooster, a live rooster.  It was obvious it was for us and it was also obvious it would have been very inappropriate to decline the gift.  Sooooo, they tied his feet together and loaded him into the van.  By the way, Geoffrey is keeping our rooster and we plan for him to join us for dinner at Geoffrey's house soon.

First time to visit Geoffrey and Alice's home.  On the way home, Geoffrey took a detour by he and Alice's home.  They wanted us to see their home and visit with them briefly.  Again, treated like royalty.  They served us coffee and some delicious nuts and shared with us what an awesome day this had been for them.  And, of course, we returned the complement, because it has been an awesome day for firsts for us.

Check out Kathy's same, but different, story about the rooster in Stories and the new Photos and Videos.

Thank God for this indescribable gift,
Edd

While waiting on Richard to come for another day of curriculum work, I'm on the couch working on my message for Geoffrey's mom's church this Sunday when Kathy begins to play praise songs on her flute in the bedroom.  It's amazing how quickly that music seems to usher a sweet peace into our home.  It's like Satan is not allowed anywhere within the sound of that music.  I love it!!

It's supper time now.  Kathy's fixing sweet and sour chicken with a "fresh" pineapple.  It's been a productive day for the poultry school curriculum, although Richard was called away to the construction site and didn't make it here today.  We are finally to the point of being able to actually work on the lessons.  I was able to complete the first draft of the first lesson today.  I sent it to Richard and also to Knoxville for feedback.  It feels good to actually have something in print.

It was another beautiful day in Uganda.  The high today was the typical 80 degrees and the low tonight will be 65 degrees.

Please pray for our sleep.  We seem to be doing "tag team" sleeping lately.  Kathy has a hard time getting to sleep.  Then, when she finally gets to sleep, she tags me and I wake up and have a hard time getting back to sleep.  Always an adventure around the Hancock house.

Thanks for going on this journey with us.  I can't imagine being here, doing this, without your prayer support.

Blessings on you all,
Edd

We had three more tremors during the night last night.  One woke Kathy up and another one woke me up later.  Apparently, this is not a common thing for this area.  We went online to check it out and found there have been a series of earthquakes in the 5.0 range under Lake Albert, about eight hours from Kampala.  I would hate to think what it felt like just an hour away.  Just another reminder that we are always in God's hands, whether the earth is shaking or the sky is falling.  Thank you, God, for you ever abiding love and protection.

It was a festive day in the Hancock house today (appropriate, I think, for  the fourth of July).  Richard came over to work on poultry school curriculum and Daniel (Mr. TivaWater) came over to take care of getting our car serviced and stayed for three hours.  He helped Richard and I with the curriculum some, answered a lot of our "living in Africa" questions, and fellowshipped a lot.  It sure helps with the separation from home anxiety to have friends close by.... weather in Africa or Knoxville.  It also helped that Kathy made chocolate oatmeal cookies.

The folks here seem very surprised to hear that Kathy cooks almost all our meals.  I guess they assume the Americans are rich and lazy and eat all their meals out.  Well, that's not the case for us...until tonight.  Kathy spied out a nice restaurant at the mall where we get groceries the other day and suggested the fourth of July would be a good time to check it out.  And, of course, I readily agreed (have to take care of my cook).  We had fajitas and they were delicious.  We will go back, but not too often.

Please pray for me as I prepare to speak at Geoffery's mother's church this Sunday.  I found that none of the "messages" I brought with me are appropriate for this place and these people.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and your prayers,
Edd

Richard was supposed to come over this morning to work on the poultry school curriculum, but had to go out to the construction site to deal with the electrical installation.  Soooooo, I took the opportunity to do some printer research and shopping (Oh boy, more experience driving).  We will need a printer while working on the curriculum and later for Richard's office, so we are shopping around.  The problem is, technology is a lot more expensive here.  A printer that we could get for $148 on Amazon costs $221 here.  But the worst part is the toner cartridges.  They are like 3-4 times more expensive than Amazon. 

[Oops!  We were down for about a half hour....power went off...first time since we've been here.]

Anyway, Richard is supposed to come over tomorrow to work on the curriculum, so we will look at my research and figure out the best way to go with the printer.  Please pray for wisdom. This is an important purchase.

Well, it about 9:00 pm here, close to bedtime for the old folks.  Hope you have an awesome rest of your day.  We love you and especially appreciate you praying for us as we seek God's leadership daily for direction and His purpose.

Edd

I was sitting on the couch this afternoon and it started shaking beneath me....weird.  It wasn't a lot, but I could actually see it shaking.  It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was definitely shaking.  That was a first-time experience for me.  Later, I asked the guy next door about it and he said that was only the second time he had experienced it in his life.

Just a little "shake up your world" today to remind us that God is in charge and we can trust Him.

Blessings on your day,
Edd

It was nice to be at home today and be able to do some updating to the  www.beyondrelief.info webpage and also make some progress on the poultry school curriculum.  Richard will be here in the morning at 9:00 and we will probably spend most of the day on the curriculum.

We will be having supper on our back porch in a little while.  There is almost always a

We continue to sense God's blessing on our lives.  We are so fortunate to be here and to have this opportunity to serve him in a strange, but familiar, place.  Please continue to pray for us that God will reveal His will for us each day.

Blessings on you all,
Edd

I thought this was going to be a routine day of working on the poultry school curriculum, but boy was I wrong.

While Kathy and I were taking a walk up "heart attack hill" we got a phone call from Geoffery (Our driver for all the medical clinics and Kathy's assistant in the eye clinics).  He wanted to know if we were at home and could he pick up his computer.  I said, "When?"  He said, "Seven minutes."  So we turned around and headed back down "heart attack hill."  His computer was having some issues and he asked if I would look at it.  With God's help, it turned out to be a pretty easy fix.

When he arrived, Kathy asked if he liked oatmeal.  He said he had never had it before, so she fixed him a bowl with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and hot tea (his preference).   I worked with him for a little while on how to keep his computer lean and mean, then Kathy gave him a Facebook lesson.  He was overjoyed.

Here's the good part: Before he left, he said he wanted to pray for us.  We have heard him pray many times and knew he was a powerful prayer warrior, however, it had never been so personal.  He prayed heaven down and the devil out and blessed us, our children, and our children's children for many generations.  He prayed for God's favor to be upon us.  It was very obvious from the way the day started that we were going to have a blessed day.

Not long after he left, God led me to a piece of software for the poultry school I had been looking for for several days....and it worked.

After lunch, we went to the ATM so we could go to the grocery store and gas station.  I have never seen so little traffic.  God's favor was really evident when twice a driver stopped and motioned for us to turn in front of them... very raw in Kampala.  It was like God cleared the road just for us.  That was a good thing, because I had not driven in two or three days. 

Then, while we were at the grocery store, Geoffery called and asked if I was available to preach this coming Sunday.  He said he wanted me to speak at his mother's church.  Doug Harris told me about his mother church before we left Tennessee.  They have never had a white person speak before... possibly never had a white person in the church before.  What an honor!!  Please pray that God will lead me in preparation and presentation so that He, and He alone, is glorified.

Could there be more?  Of course!  God is not through with the day until the next one starts.  Frannie called a little while ago and told us she had sold our camper and was on the way to the bank with the money.  Wow!  That is such a relief.

And as I am writing this, there was more.  I just heard Kathy out on the back porch playing her Irish whistle to the Lord drowning out the Muslim call to prayer.

Thank you Lord for blessing our day.  Thank you Lord for blessing our lives.  Thank you Lord for sending us a friend like Geoffery.

And thank you for your continued prayers,
Edd and Kathy

Richard (with Bill from UT) picked us up at 9:30 am to go to Dove Church in Wakiso for worship.  About halfway there the road was closed.  Richard said it was because of the huge accident that occurred during the night.  A gasoline tanker collided with a car and turned over spilling gas onto the highway.  Many people, including many motorcyclists, stopped and began trying to scoop up the gasoline, .  The gasoline ignited resulting in a huge explosion.  Thirty nine people were killed and many more injured.  An almost incomprehensible accident.  Please pray for the people who were injured and for the families of those killed.

Richard took a round-about route and got us to Dove very close to our original schedule.  Today was ladies day with the ladies were in charge of the service.  They did a great job, including some hilarious skits.   Check out the very active worship in the Videos section.

We had lunch at Pastor Davis' house and then headed farther out of town to Pastor Patrick's mission church in Namayumba.

Many of the congregation at Namayumba stayed around after worship this morning to welcome us and worship with us.  This was a very different experience from Dove.  There is no electricity, so their only instruments were drums and a soda can filled with rocks (I think I could play that one).  It was awesome.  The Spirit was present in the hearts, faces, and feet of this very special group of God's people.  Especially moving was corporate prayer with everyone crying out to God (loudly) in multiple languages. I have been invited back to preach, probably in three weeks.  Check out the video of our worship at Namayumba.  Also check out the photos of our experiences today below. 

Thanks for your prayers,
Edd

Richard (Mr. Chicken City/Poultry School) and Bill Park (Ag professor at UT) picked us up at 9:30 am and we headed outside the city to visit two successful chicken farms.  These farms are both run by Cornerstone Business School graduates.  It was interesting and educational to see the differences in the layouts and the way the businesses were run. Richard was very interested in the "drinkers" at the second farm.  The design is what he wants to utilize at Chicken City.  In both cases the husband has a day job out of town and the wife has the main responsibility for the chicken business (actually, egg business in both cases).

We then went back to Focus for a brief tour and a couple of home visits since Bill had not been there before.

Probably the most enlightening experience of the day was catching the last hour of the monthly business forum at the Cornerstone office building in Kampala.  Once a month several Cornerstone graduates come together to share their business experiences and expertise and hear and interact with outside speakers.  Today, a couple of businessmen from California were sharing a new concept to me.... instead of ROI (Return on Investment), they suggested ROL (Return on Life).  Good stuff!

Below are some photos taken during our journey today.

It was great to be at home today to be able to catch up on all that work I haven't been able to do the last few days due to being on the road.  I've been working on this webpage, reviving our friend Geoffery's computer, and trying to mark a few things off my poultry school list.  The best thing is that I don't plan on driving anywhere

You are awesome to encourage and pray for us,
Edd