Well, it’s my first official blog post since we launched back on January 6th, so I’m OFFICIALLY on the mission field in Uganda! I thought for a little while about what my first post should be…something encouraging or philosophical or some kind of lesson I’ve learned recently, but then I thought…I’ll just tell you what I’ve been doing since January 6th when I left the country to travel the world for 11 months. Right away I experienced God’s goodness and His miraculous provision because I had trouble getting my visa into Uganda before we left, so the only option was to pray that I could get it at the border when we arrived, and WE DID. No problems or hassle, we were granted our 30 day visa and sent to our first location for training camp. Even before that though, my squad got a special treat from our gracious God during our 10 hour layover in Egypt where we were given a tour of the Pyramids of Giza. Talk about a bucket list moment that I didn’t even realize I had! I have a feeling there will be lots of those over this next year 😉 So back to Uganda, we had our first week of training camp at Reformed Theological College where we met our team coaches, leaders, and got to know our squad mates through different activities and experiences. We have been put into 4 teams of 5 people and will be doing the majority of our traveling within each country with our team rather than a large group of 20 people. From training camp, we drove two hours to a campsite where we have been staying for the last two days for some much needed rest, and we had the opportunity to raft the Nile River yesterday. I of course jumped at the opportunity, and while it was one of the scariest, most intense experiences I’ve ever had (with our raft flipping over three times in class 5 rapids), it is another bucket list moment that I never realized I had…and I can now officially say I SURVIVED the Nile! Already in these first two weeks I’ve seen God move in some amazing ways and experienced things that I NEVER could have imagined…I can hardly wait to see what the rest of the year will hold!
It’s tricky to post photos on the blog from outside the country with spotty wifi connection, but if you’d like to follow my journey through some images that I’ll be posting, please follow me on Instagram @shavonrose.
Your prayers have definitely gotten me through these first few days and I want to thank you ALL for joining me along this journey as I serve the Lord with my life and take the hope of the gospel and the love of the Father to some desperate places and lost people of the world. More updates will follow!
