Welcome to the Road Rally

May 8, 2008 Thursday Today was the official “exchanging of the key” day. Elder Libby presented Brad with keys to the silver Nissan 4-door hard-body 4 wheel drive diesel truck which will be our mode of transportation for the next 18 months.

(Attention to all those who know of Brad’s obsession with Wyoming and all that is “tough” –including a truck - his need for a truck has now been fulfilled). After much razzing by the other senior missionaries, we began our induction into the infamous driving experience that is Kampala. Every single return senior missionary couple from Uganda that I called before coming here had commented first, and foremost, on the biggest challenge of the mission – driving. The challenge does not lie in using the manual stick shift, while driving on the left side of the road, and sitting on the right side of the car…the challenge lies in dodging the zillions of bicycles, pedestrians, trucks, boda bodas (motorcycles with 1-3 passengers on the back), bodas (bicycles with 1-2 passengers on the back)…all, with no traffic lanes, passing lanes, street signs, and rarely a stop light or sign! A 2 way street can have as many as 4-6 cars abreast one another, and the boda bodas will dart in and through in an intricate woven pattern. I have reported that one need no longer do aerobics in order to get the heart rate up…just drive in the streets of Kampala! Looking out the window of the moving truck is definitely a visual overload! Our first errand/outing was to Garden City Mall (– it actually is like a multi-level outdoor mall), where we got some supplies in addition to the apples and ingredients necessary to make Brad’s famous you-know-what for when we host the senior couples FHE in a couple of weeks. While in the produce department, trying to calculate how shillings and kilograms translate into dollars per pound, we were helped by a young woman named Monica from the bakery department. She noticed our name tags, and by the time we were done bagging our apples and lemons, we had our first appointment to teach! She is to meet us at the Nsambya chapel in one week – hope it comes to pass!