Day 2 Arriving in Uganda
We arrived a little late and Jana and I had been praying that we would be able to have the strength to collect all the bags and a cart big enough to put them on. We first had to go through the visa entry and as we had already bought ours in Washington, D.C. we went right through. All eight pieces of luggage arrived. They were pretty banged up but thankfully because of the lash straps that my dad had me to put on them, they were together.
We get all those plus our carry on bags on two carts and head towards customs. Not really seeing anybody interested, we finally asked a lady where to go. She said, "Do you declare anything?" After telling her no, we go through the doors and we are done! We look for a sign with our names on it and there a missionary is waiting on us. He and two others took our bags, loaded us up and we got in the van with Scott the missionary, Kenny, his helper and Goo Goo our driver. We have finally arrived!
As we drove through the night with the wind blowing in through the windows, memories came flooding back of my childhood in Africa. The smells, the humid air, the sights of the kerosene lanterns and people on the streets flooded my senses and I felt like I had come home. 20 years had passed since I left this soil.
We were finally here and walking into the unknown.
Favor #5
After about a 30 minute drive and Scott filling us in on some things we needed to know, we arrived at the guest house. We were blown away! We were given an entire 2 bedroom, 2 bath home to stay in while here. The house was mosquito netted and the beds had mosquito nets as well. It was stocked with bottled water, a refrigerator, some food for snacks and washing machine! We have a night and day guard to watch over us. All of our meals are fixed for us. We cried there too! God is an awesome God. He gave us more than we expected to find.
Thursday, Day 3- first day in Kampala, Uganda
Favor #6
The next morning, Scott arranged for his driver, Richard to take us into town. We are actually staying outside of Kampala in Seguku Village. Esther, the precious woman who fixes our meals, went along to grocery shop. While she shopped, we got money exchanged, went to the cell phone place to buy a SIM card for my GMS phone, looked around at an African Crafts store, went to a fotball (soccer) store and bought one of the children a gift, mailed the postcards to the kids at the post office and then went into a bookstore for postcards and a Ugandan cookbook.
I think I might can learn how to make white ant balls and blood stew! Yeah, right!!!! Richard thought all the crafts were too expensive and told us not to buy and he would take us to another place to buy. So we went and Jana I and bought a small purse because after lugging a backpack around all day, we found it was not practical to do so. Jana and I were so tired form the trip that we didn't do well there and kept knocking over drums and other items and so we finally decided that we needed to go back to the guest house. We arrived at the guest house with a little surprise as Richard gunned the gas and we shot up the hill like a bullet. We didn't know what had hit us! Richard was grinning real big as we found out that that was his first time to make it up the hill and Esther was praising the Lord emphatically! Even Elijah, the grounds keeper came out of the house praising the Lord. We surmised that it was a big deal getting up that hill and so we praised the Lord along with them because we were alive and hadn't shot through the windshield.
What is so great about all this is we did not expect this ride into town and were going to try to get a taxi to take us. What is sort impossible about that is that where we're staying is HIGH on a hill and we would have never made it to the road in one piece to catch a taxi. God took care of our need and kept us safe. We are so thankful. With all of our errands run, we went back to the house and called our husbands since we now had a phone and they had not heard from us since we had arrived. The nights are cool here and we sat out on the front porch for some time before going into the house to unpack suitcases and organize all the stuff that was in them.
We are actually staying on a campus of Bethel Bible School and Seguku Worship Center. We have been meeting students and they are so friendly and we have got to sit down and visit with some of them. They are precious people and we have enjoyed it immensely. Jana meets no stranger and pulls people in to talk to her. Their stories of their lives of they met Jesus and how they got here to Bible School have been incredible to hear.
We in America know nothing of hardships. I am humbled at the heart these people have for telling others about the good news of Jesus.
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