We've had some great experiences while in Entebbe. The relationships that have already been built from past trips, and the new ones that we made always make it difficult to leave. You build a spiritual bond, and that bond is great.
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| Sommer and Alex pose with hats and purses. Alex was hysterical! |
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| Michael and Sean at the men's conference |
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| Some of the team being goofy in the gardens..what did they see? Heaven? |
This bond makes leaving comparable to leaving a "home" and moving to another. Saphan, our director of prison ministries puts it this way, "when you go, you leave a big gap for us". The "gap" is felt in the heart by our team, those that we've all grown to love, and by experiencing the work of God together. When you come together for Gods mission, his purpose, and you all experience the intensity of God in relationship together, you can't help but love one another in a new way! The family of God.
This sparks another thought in my mind, to the scripture that says, "In my Father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2
When we travel in and throughout East Africa spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is always ahead of us preparing the hearts of those he has called to himself. It also makes me think of the quote by Bishop Ryle who said, "Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people, and they that enter shall find that they are neither unknown nor unexpected."
I don't know about you, but that really stirs my heart. Not just for me, but for those that we meet along the way, those hearts that are called by Jesus. He's already prepared a place for them, for us. We aren't even aware that when we accept Christ for the first time, we are not strangers to him and we're not unexpected! Our mansions have already been prepared. Those we minister to in East Africa, already have a room prepared in the Father's house. So, no matter where we are, which "home" we visit, He has already gone before us, he knows us intimately and has prepared a home. Amazing!
Pastor Steven from Royal Palace Ministries and George's brother arrive to pick us up. Again, we would need an extra vehicle for our luggage. We load up and head out.
It wasn't long before we would pull over. The van in front of us has a flat tire. It was heard said from someone inside the vehicle, "thank God it's only a flat and not someone shooting at us!" Can you imagine? You're driving along and hear a BANG! Your first thought is that someone has shot at you! Oh, Lord. Praising Him that it's only a flat tire.
The team inside begins to exit the vehicle and move to the side of the road. This would entail climbing down a ditch and back up to the road side farthest away from the vehicle.
While waiting, those of us in the van behind hear tires squealing and horn honking. A semi-truck nearly missed the vehicle in front of us! Another God stop! How many times had he protected us from things we hadn't even seen. Preparing a way for us, and us so unaware!
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| Yes, God is AWESOME! |
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| see the black skid marks? A near fatal accident! |
We praise God for his mercy and safety over a near horrific accident! John is way down the street in the photo above. He is standing where the semi first laid on his brakes trying to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of us. You can also see how close to our vehicle those marks are! WOW!
We all decide to exit both vehicles and go the far side of the road. You can see in the photo also that it's not a real busy road. By our American standards of traffic anyway.
Our thoughts are that it's going to take some time to fix this flat. It was about ten or fifteen minutes and we're ready to roll again. These guys know what they're doing and get the job done!
We pass the Nile river and are now nearing chicken on a stick! It's a must stop for our team each year.
I can say that for those that have never experienced it, it's frightening. For those of us that have, we sit back and watch the faces of those that haven't and remember our first experience. LOL
It's quite an experience! But the chicken is worth the scare. Yes, it is scary. Tons of Ugandans surround your vehicle with chicken, meats, vegetables on sticks. They open your window and thrust their goods inside, all begging you to buy their items. Our new word of the day, "Saagala". This means, I do not like it, or No. It was quite funny watching the faces of Ugandan people when we would use this phrase. They would smile and say, "mzungu's say Saagala".
I can say from experience that each year the vendors get a a bit more bold in their techniques. One vendor harassed Emily by asking her why she wouldn't share her chicken with him. Eventually, you have to just shut the window and doors and go!
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| chicken on a stick vendors, with water and meat sticks |
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| now THIS is chicken on a stick! |
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| The Nile River |
On the road again.. We're now closing in our destination! Tororo Uganda.
We also stop along the road to see the baboons. They weren't out and about too much this year.
These baboons are pretty accustom to humans around them. The Ugandans walk the road they inhabit.
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| Wild baboons on the road |
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| These guys are pretty big! |
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| Tororo Rock! |
Finally we see it! Tororo Rock! We're almost there. I can't speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself that when I see this rock I feel as if I'm almost home. Tororo is home to me in Uganda. But as I stated prior, anywhere we are in Christ, we're home!
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| colorful dresses of Ugandan women |
We reach the hotel and get ourselves all checked in. This is no quick process! We have a team of nineteen people in this group. Some of our team members are still in Mbale. Oh my gosh! They're still in Mbale.
Good grief, I forgot our men! How embarrassing!
I get a call from Mary asking me if I had arranged a ride for Bryan and Kermit to Tororo. I told her no, that they would be coming for the men's conference. She reminded me that the men's conference was in the morning. Oh my! Mary had arranged for her driver in Mbale to bring Bryan and Kermit to the hotel. The upside (if you could find one) is that Mbale is only about forty-five minutes to an hour away. They would arrive in time for dinner!
Oh, how I would have loved to leave this part out of my blog! LOL
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| Bryan and Kermit...how could I forget these guys!! LOL |
Dinner is set up for us in a private room. A buffet fit for a king! As I sit and watch the team, I can't help but get a lump in my throat. No, it's not because I forgot the guys, although it could have been!
Despite some differences, and there are differences. This team is comprised of people from Ohio, Iowa, California and Texas. All different upbringing, backgrounds, like and dislikes, but all here for one purpose, His purpose.
We debrief the trip to Tororo. For most the lows are overall about the long drive, except for Kermit who said his low was because I forgot them, LOL, the highs are for what awaits the team in the coming days, as we set up "home" here in Tororo.
No matter where we live, where we "come" from, if we are in Christ our roots are the same! Heaven is a permanent home!
To end the night, some of the team set up camp in one of the rooms and begin the start of "Mafia" (a card game).
Tomorrow... another men's conference and a visit to Smile Africa!!
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