Well, we made it to Uganda after countless hours on planes, trains (Atlanta shuttle) and automobiles!
We arrived latenight Tuesday night and immediately headed to our comfy beds for rest. The birds over the lake in Kampala woke us early, in time to have a delicious breakfast of hard boiled eggs, pineapple and sausage (yum). Ashley broke his yearlong Mirinda fast. Then off we went to the bus, numbering off 1-17, prepared for a fun filled drive to Gulu.
And oh! What fun it was. Between Aaron T. & Ashley singing the entire Grease soundtrack and David being voted most likely to be on Dancing with the Stars, the seven hour commute felt manageable and even fun. One bonding moment along the way was when Wilfred pulled over. When asked if everything was ok he replies, “it’s not very much ok”… hmmmm, what does that mean?! Well, the clutch went out on the bus we soon found out. We exited the bus, took a short call (potty break) and shared a Fanta, or two. We had the chance to interact with some of the locals and even get to know each other on the team better.
It wasn’t long until we were on the road again. Yes, Willie Nelson was sung on our bus! Soon we were crossing the mighty Nile River, heckling the baboons that live around there, and quickly approaching Gulu. When we saw the “tall tree” we knew we were close. We turned into the farm and the excitement was palpable! We shared a snack with Aloysius and Esther Kyazze, the leaders of Sports Outreach in the north. That prepared us to be welcomed so graciously by the Sports Outreach staff with singing, dancing and praising the Lord. It was a sweet time filled with joy!
After we said our hellos, Aloysius escorted us around the farm and captured our attention orienting us on the ministry there.
Arriving to our next hotel after dark, we were all anxiously awaiting dinner since our lunch consisted of the Fanta drinks during the van clutch repair. Just before we were to be served, the hotel had a blackout and we briefly wondered if we might repeat our Fanta drink meal, but the electricity returned shortly and we enjoyed a wonderful meal of fish, pasta and pizza. It was great.
We finished our evening with a time of worship with songs and prayer, but even that was delayed a bit with Sam jumping around, head cocked with his left ear parallel to the ground and arms wailing. Wondering if he was having an epileptic fit, we quickly checked to see what was wrong. Incoherently, he repeated ivegottabugnmaear, ivegottabugnmaear. We finally heard I have a bug in my ear. We called a “code red” at the ChurchHill and our medical team swept in and dislodged an African Gnat (about the size of his little toe).
We finally settled down and entered into some awesome worship lead by Eric Bernier (one of our fearless leaders). It just now started to rain which is great because we are all heading to bed and loving the “white noise” God is creating for us.
Favorite moments from today…
Barbara: breaking down and spending time on the roadside with people.
Greg: the welcome at Koro farm.
Ashley: loved the drive up to Gulu and see how God is orchestrating the team, etc.
Todd: “if you continue to hold onto your idols, you’ll miss the blessings I have for you”
David: encouraged by Aloysius’ words of gratitude for coming back.
Tonia: praise and worship at the farm made her excited about worship in Heaven.
Tim: Colossians 4:3 excited about the video ministry this week.
McKinley was struck by the living conditions… how tragic and real in a new way to her.
Kelly: being at the farm and feeling the Lord’s presence.
3 comments:
Glad things are going well. Love and miss you McKinley and Greg. The chickens were dipped today that was interesting. I'm sure not as wonderful and exciting as the things you guys are up to. The soccer team won Tuesday (7-1) Yay! Nathan was very excited. Hope the rest of the team is doing well. I wish I could see the changes at Lajwatek (sp?). I can't wait to hear how God uses each and everyone on this trip. I am sure Barbara is helping Dave to differentiate the toilets from the showers and Ashley is sure to be enjoying his Fantas and preaching - he can bring it on. Tim, I pray God brings those 1000 people to Himself - a small thing for Him to do especially with you all being His hands and feet. Praying for you all - we can't wait to hear all the amazing stories. Love, Rebecca
Ps: AnnaRebecca says "I hope you are having fun and you save a lot of people. I can't wait until you tell us all about it. Hope you get a lot of new stuff there that's in Africa. I love you Daddy and McKinley, bye"
Lydia says "I love you McKinley and Daddy. I hope you have lots of fun there and help lots of people. I'm finally off my crutches. I wish that you were here, but it's better that you're in Africa because you are helping lots of people. McKinley, this is your first time and how are you liking it so far? Say hi to the team for me. Love ya'll. See you soon."
Oh, by the way, Greg, Isaac came in 4th for his cross country meet. Their team did great! It was quite wet and the conditions were not the best.
We went to the Hardee's hoedown tonight. Sorry you had to miss that treat. Simon danced with that "interesting" lady - it made her day. See you soon.
Hey Team!
I'm so glad no one had gnatty ears on the first trip! Ew!
I am reliving our welcome-to-Gulu through you guys and anticipating great things!
Aaron,
We all miss you so much. I couldn't find the Goo Gone to remove the gum from the laminate floor (Sam thought it was bird poop; I thought it was spit up). I used Canola oil. It worked.
Jude-o is on his knees all the time, but still uses the army crawl to get around. He's been such a good boy, even though he caught my cold.
Sam did great at karate. Tues was sparring and he did great defending himself, but Brittany is still working on him to get punches and kicks in. Too bad no points for blocks! Mom rented the new Karate Kid and we all watched it together. It was pretty good. Good for Sam to see a little guy with the right attitude besting big bullies.
We forgot to take Si to gymnaskits on Monday. Ooops. She gets to go tomorrow morning for a make-up class. She got a new leotard at the resale shop--dark blue velour. She's in love!
Got everyone's fall/winter wardrobes updated for $150. Yay me! Got my hair cut. Playing LOTS of games with grandma. Sam learned Othello. Life seems to be our favorite, with babies being the highlight of the game.
Ethen came and mowed for us today. And V brought dinner. I promised the kids we'd have Fondue Friday tonight, though, so I put the Costco potpie (smells soooooo good) in the fridge for another day. Tomorrow night we're going to the neighborhood dinner. Whoopdedoo!
Love, love, love, love, love you!!!! One more week!
Rae
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