Our first few days were spent in Jinja where we rafted the Nile and had team changes. We stayed at the Adrift campsite and it was absolutely beautiful. We had a deck that sat over the Nile. So, a few mornings I would wake up and have my quiet time on the sweet deck. It was brilliant!
View from the deck
Rafting the Nile was crazy and did I mention they are class 5 rapids?! I have never been rafting before so for safety reasons I became close pals with our rafting guide. We had about 5 minutes of training where our guide Josh explained some things. One thing he said was to try your best to not let go of the raft. Our raft flipped 3 times and I am proud to say I never let go, but I did have plenty of the Nile to drink! The first time we flipped was the worst. I was trapped under the raft.. Luckily Josh pulled me out! Check out the pics:
Our last day in Jinja me and the team took a cute little boat to see the source of the Nile River for my teammate Julie's birthday. It's where Lake Victoria and the Nile meet. You actually can tell a difference in the water! We also had a delicious lunch where I enjoyed a chocolate "milkshake" and some tuna and cheese pasta (don't hate).
And yes, this is the cute little boat.
Me, Savannah, and the Nile 🙂
Jilly Billy and I
So, we bought Julie a "candle" for her bday and this is what we got…. FIREWORKS! Funniest part of the day.
More on Jinja…
My sister Cassey and her husband Jesse are close friends with a man in Jinja, Uganda. His name is Edward Mugumba. Edward is a pastor of a church, has an orphanage, and a school in Jinja. Jesse has gone on 2 mission trip to see Pastor and parter with him. Jesse and Cassey have supported Pastor Eddie for around 4 years now. He even lived with us in America for a month. While in Jinja a few days I actually had the chance to meet up with him, something I have looked forward to since before the race.
I sent him a few messages letting him know I was in Jinja and next thing I know I'm sitting across from him having a conversation! A few days after our convo he takes me and my new team to see his orphanage/school, visit his church, he helped us get a taxi for our travel day (he even made sure we left safely that day), and then we went to his house to meet his wife and little boy Isaiah.
We thought it was just a visit to his house but it turned out that his sweet wife Julie cooked the best meal ever. Seriously, we had sooo much food! We had some of the best juice ever too. Passion fruit juice! I loved it and couldn't stop pouring myself my “last” glass. This was our teams first outing together and it was perfect! Pastor Eddie is such an awesome man of God who has so much love in his heart for people. Thank you Pastor for treating us so well. We are so thankful and you remain in our prayers.
Lunch at Pastor's home
Sweet little ones from Pastor Eddie's orphanage
Help Pastor Eddie and his family keep their Home
Pastor Edward, his wife Julie, and their son Isaiah are currently living in a beautiful home owned by Pastor Eddie's uncle. However, if they do not raise $16,500 by July 4th to buy the house it will result in them moving into a mud home with no running water. This place is wonderful and such a good house for missionaries to stay at while partnering with his ministry. My sister and her husband are working on raising money to buy this house. Someone has offered to match dollar to dollar up to half the amount of the house. So that means he only needs $7,000. I ask that you pray into helping support this great cause. If you would be willing to help Pastor and his family keep their home you can donate by sending a check written for Edward Mugumba to 227 Meigs Drive, Murfreesboro, TN 37128. You can also email me with any questions. [email protected]
By donating you are not only helping Pastor Eddie and his family keep their home you are also helping the orphans and missionaries have a home. Thank you for considering being apart of this!
You can check out Pastor Eddie's ministry at www.rempowerment.org
Here is a video of my brother-in-law Jesse at Pastor's house.
