LandCruiser!!!

We have been encouraged and blessed by Glenwood Church of Christ once again. They knew we needed a new four wheel drive for the ministry. One that is big enough to fit our entire family with all of the car seats. They asked me which vehicle is the best for the work? Which one would meet the needs of our family? They also were interested in finding a safe strong vehicle that is not going to be breaking down all the time.


I love Toyotas. We could have made commercials showing us crossing rivers, climbing mountains, or pulling other vehicles out of the mud.
The most people that I have carried in the pickup is 36. They were all singing and laughing and having a good time. We were going to the market area several miles away for some open air preaching. When I teach in a market like that I tend to tell stories. It is fun to make up parables to illustrate a point.
The poor Hilux has floated across a river stuffed full of people and medicine as we responded to a terrible rebel attack.
It has been used to drag trees out of the forest to build church buildings.
We have carried many sick, injured and dieing people to the hospital. It has also carried many bodies for burial.
This pickup was used to lead a parade and announce the King Is Coming.
We were leading the Tooro king to the Palace during a massive festival.
We have carried food to the hungry and wheel chairs to the lame and landmine victims. It has carried thousands of Bible for distribution. It has been piled high many times with the equipment to show the Jesus film.
All of the shocks have been broken off the truck several time. The spring have been broken. The engine has been blown and the frame broken...twice.
It has carried my wife to the hospital ...eighteen hours away. And returned with our new babies.
When we first got the Toyota Hilux nearly ten years ago, we didn't have a single church to speak of ...now there are 20.
Two weeks ago the clutch went out. Even though we love this old truck it is time for a new one.
We purchased a wonderful vehicle.




We are so excited about the new LandCruiser. Thank you Glenwood!
Thank you Lord!
While I was typing on the laptop Isaac started pretending that he was playing the guitar. He is so funny. He makes us laugh everyday.


Silas is enjoying the ceral that I found at a store in Kampala.

If you enjoy this blog I'd love to hear from you. If the picture is too small just click on it and you will be taken to my flickr on line photo album. Right now I've posted nearly a hundred pictures.
All of the photos that are on this or Cheryl's blog are stored at the flickr account.
Let me know if you think this is an effect tool for communication.
Thanks for checking in. God bless

The Plane....

I woke up early to be at our airstrip before 7:00AM. The truck hauling the container with the Cessna will be there.


It has been a long process to the get the plane here.
After flying the plane from the US to Africa we had engine failure. We were about ten minutes into the flight when the engine blew. We were able to land safely back at the airport in Djibouti.
The plane was parked for some time there as we tried to raise funds to fix the engine. During the delay the military took the aircraft.
I flew to Djibouti and met Don who came from Tyler. We got the plane back and took it apart to be shipped to Uganda in a container.
The engine was sent to the US. The shipping company delayed for months on end. It can be very frustrating to get things done in the third world.
It is finally here! There's the truck coming over the hill.

I think he is stuck at the gate to the airstrip.


The moment of truth is about here. How much damage is there to the plane?


Dick built a ramp for me so we could unload the plane easily.


There were about 20 men who helped unload. (Of course we had to pay them for their help.) The entire village showed up to see what we were doing. The ramp was great and we unloaded the plane easily.
The windshield had been damaged by the fork truck driver in Djibouti.
The plane is finally here!

The engine was supposed to have been shipped from Djibouti six months ago. They did not send it until I bugged them repeatedly. The engine is going through France by ship.
There was some skin damaged on the plane as the straps holding the plane broke loose because they only used one nail!
The rotating beacon and cup was smashed on the tail. The pitot tube was pushed into the wing. The skin underneath where the tail would be was damaged and has a six inch hole in it.
Ok
The plane is here.
Ronald is as excited as I am. We can't wait to be able to use the plane for the ministry. We will have to do a little more fundraising to get the ministry soaring.

With all of the help we were able to get the plane and the parts put in our storage container. We rushed off to church. Ronald went home and put on a suit. "This is a special day! The church has been praying for this day for such a long time!" he said.

Safari
Andrew and Aimee Jo Martin came on a survey trip to Fort Portal to see if this is where they want to work or if this is where the Lord wants them to come. It has been fun sharing with them all that we see the Lord doing.
Whenever we have visitor we like to take them on Safari to one of the game parks here in Uganda. We went with Andrew and Aimee Jo to Mweya Safari Lodge. We had a great time!
The first morning out we saw a leopard which is rare. We also found a male lion.

In the afternoon we took the Kazinga channel boat cruise to see the wild life.

There are hundreds of hippos in the channel.

Cheryl and Silas are enjoying the new upper deck on the boat launch.

Aimee Jo and Isaac enjoying the animals.

This is Andrew helping me set up this blog! Thanks Andrew.
Pray for Andrew and Aimee Jo as they are praying about possibly moving here.

We have had a great time sharing the ministry with the Martins.

Mission Kids also known as MKs.
When Cheryl and moved here we did not have any kids but we wanted to have a family. MKs are unique in many aspects. They are not 100% American in the way they view world but they are not 100% like the host culture that they are brought up in. They are a unique group that some like to call third culture kids.
When I was at Harding University pursuing a degree in Missions I went a panel discussion. All of the students on the panel had one thing in common ...they were each missionary kids.
Each of the students had straight "A"s. As I looked at the group I saw that these were the Spiritual leaders of the entire school. They each had clear goals of what they wanted to do in life. Out of the entire group there was only one who was socially challenged and he was a genius computer nerd. The others seemed so together and strong. I was impressed with these MKs.
I had feared that if I raised my kids in another culture that they might become complete social misfits. That fear was laid to rest when I met these guys. This was one of the most impressive groups of university students I had ever seen.
Now I have four MKs of my own. They are being homeschooled by Cheryl. With the pace of life that we have here I am able to spend quality time with them.
Kinley is seven. She is proud of the fact that she was born in Nairobi, Kenya but lives in Uganda and is American.


Kinley, Alex, Isaac and Silas love to play together! They are all good friends.


Silas loves his passies.


Isaac has quite a personality.

Cheryl and I thank the Lord for our wonderful kids. We are so blessed!
I just love my kiddos!

Cheryl and I stopped our four wheel drive on the side of the dirt road. We spotted some lions. I jumped out of the truck to take some pictures. After a few minutes there were two Ugandans on bike approaching us. They were clueless. I yelled "Ntali! ( which means lion in Rutoro)
The guy riding the bike just laughed at me.
I yelled "simba!" (which is swahili for lion) I think the guys were just enjoying making fun of me. So I yelled in English
There are six lions right there!
The guy responed in Rutoro a little confused. I yelled "Mukaga Ntali!"(Six lions!)
He stopped making fun of me and nearly fell off of his bike.
One of the lions had crouched down and was watching them closely.
I told them that I would help keep the lions back with the truck if they needed me to.

I started the truck and they rode quickly past. They waved and thanked me as they continued on their journey to Kasese.

My name is Jeff Cash and I am a Christian missionary working in Western Uganda. I'll try to post something here each week
I thought about calling this the ramblings of a crazed missionary. That maybe more accurate than missionary journal.
Blogging is an easy format to share thoughts and pictures so feel free to check back.



It is amazing the changes that Cheryl and I have seen since we first moved to Fort Portal Uganda in October, 1995. When we arrived here there were no cell phones, internet cafes, or email. A basic phone call to the states was something like $8.00 a minute.
MAF was the first to bring email to Uganda. It was a basic system that was expensive. They would take all the e-mails and call Europe 4 times a day to upload and download messages. We had to pay for everything we received. That used to get expenses.
I remember getting a message that jammed the entire system for more than a day!
We used to check e-mail using our planet one satellite phone. The connection was slow and cost $3.48 per minute.
Now things have really changed. We have unlimited internet access for a little over $50 a month. There are internet cafes on every corner of Kampala. They have even introduced wireless hotspots.
There are not many paved roads where we live but we can get on-line.
I heard that in Tanzania a little over 10% of the population has electricity but 97% have access to cell phones. It is funny to see a Massai warrior walk out of his mud hut all dressed in his traditional carb except that he has added one thing to his outfit. These days he is likely to have a cell phone clipped next to his sword!