Well, it’s finally here. Our 3 months in Africa officially started a couple days ago when we landed in Uganda.
Our plane landed in Entebbe, Uganda mid afternoon on the 30th. This travel day felt almost as if I was starting the race all over again. 2 long flights and an overnight layover in Dubai brought our team to a new continent, a new culture, a new time zone and a new season.
After landing and going through customs our team loaded 3 buses and made a 3 hour trek to Jinja where we will be camping for the next 5 days while we have our month 6 debrief.
Camping?……. Yep!
But before you feel sorry for me or worry about my safety, let me tell you we are camping at a resort on the Nile River. Of course we don’t get the luxury of an actual room at the resort but we do get to set up our tents on their property with a beautiful view of the Nile and have full access to their hot showers, so that is enough of resort living for me.
I gazed out our bus window as we drove the 3 hours here and watched as the sun began to set over the Ugandan country side. The mountains and valleys and the land full of lush green vegetation on either side of the red dirt lined street was absolutely amazing. The cool breeze blew in as we drove. It was such refreshment after 6 months in the humid Asian weather. I stared at the people as we passed… staring at the image of Africa I have always had in my mind. As I took it all in, joy and peace settled in me. It is surreal to finally be here.
We arrived to our destination and set up camp. I finished quickly and went to take a peek at the Nile River before the sun went down completely. The sunset was amazing. A while later I returned to my tent, exhausted from the day. I snuggled in my sleeping bag, passed out and caught up on some much needed sleep (after 24 hours of straight travel).
I awoke at 730 feeling refreshed and ready to go. As most of the squad left to go white water rafting for the day, I stayed behind and planned a trip into town. Now, rafting the Nile river might sound like an opportunity you can’t pass up, but let me assure I haven’t had any second thoughts about it. Actually the thought of doing it gave me heart palpitations after seeing a video that showed nearly every raft capsizing at this one particular rapid and all the passengers being dumped out in the churning water. No thanks.
Me and Ally walked to the hotel nearby and found an unoccupied table by the pool where we could sit and read for a while. A waiter came over to see if we wanted to order anything. We both know that the hotel prices won’t fit in our small but sufficient budget so we politely decline. He tells us we are welcome to stay here as long as we would like, and he is in the mood to talk so he continues to engage us in conversation.
Questions 1…
Waiter: “I see you are reading the bible. You like to read the bible?”
Me and Ally: Yes, we do!
Question 2….
Waiter: “Are you born again?”
Me and Ally: Yes! Are you?
Waiter: “yes I am”
The conversation continues for a while, finding out why we are here and he welcomes us to Uganda and thanks us for our work here.
Then Question 3 comes.
Waiter: “If I were to put on a crusade this month would you like to come preach?”
Now… if I had a dime for every time I have been asked to preach at a crusade! Ha!
We politely decline, as we’ll only be here a few days, and then we get up to leave. We are immediately stopped by 2 men, both carrying a huge bucket of oranges. I had noticed them a while earlier in the tree picking these oranges. When I mention it to them they joyfully offer me and Ally both an orange. Talk about having a fresh orange!
Needless to say, the first 24 hours in Uganda have been amazing. I am already loving my time here and I can’t wait to be settled with our ministry for the month in a few days. I hope to update you then as I have internet access!
