We made it!

 I am officially in Uganda! All the many months of preparing and dreaming about what it would be like here, is before me. We all met in Atlanta Wednesday (May 29th) to start our journey. Our flight left Atlanta headed to Washington, D.C. We had a layover in D.C. then we flew to Brussels, Belgium. The flight from D.C. to Belgium was 8 hours overnight so we all tried to get as much sleep as we could. We got to Brussels Thursday morning, had about a 3 hour layover, then got on our final plane that would take us to Africa. We flew 10 hours from Brussels to Entebbe which was actually a pretty enjoyable flight.

Our team before leaving Atlanta

Once we arrived in Entebbe, we were all beaming with excitement/delirium from lack of sleep. We purchased our visas, picked up our luggage (ALL of it made it), then met Matt and our fearless bus driver Fred outside to head to Kampala. We rode to Kampala where we stayed for the night before making the 6 hour drive to Gulu Friday morning.

My flight buddy for all 3 flights-Rebecca

We safely arrived in Gulu Friday afternoon...safely being the key word! In all of Uganda there are hardly any traffic rules but a lot of crazy drivers! The drive was entertaining and nerve racking at the same time but we all enjoyed getting to see the beautiful land of Uganda along the way.

The Nile River

When we got to Matt and Jamie's house Friday afternoon we were immediately greeted by Tristan and Cole. They were both so excited to have so many new friends to play with...especially girls! We all got settled into our rooms, ate dinner, then headed to bed early because we all had NO concept of time!

We all caught up on some sleep Saturday morning before heading into the nearby villages. We have been planning to do a VBS this upcoming week but needed to find a location to host it and get the word out to the people. The Lord is so good and answered our prayers when we arrived at the first village. The children were timid when we first arrived but warmed up to us quickly. We began playing simple games like hopscotch with them and their faces lit up with smiles and laughter immediately. My heart is warmed by these children! They are all so beautiful and have such sweet hearts. I look forward to the weeks to come  to see how our relationships grow.

 We are starting our VBS tomorrow morning in the first village we visited. We have invited any children who are either too young for school or ones who cannot afford to go to school to come to our VBS. We will be teaching a bible lesson, music, crafts, and recreation games this Monday-Thursday mornings.
 I ask for you prayers for a few things:
-That God will be able to reach the children in spite of the language barrier (English/Acholi)
-That each one of us will be confident in ourselves to take on the challenge of leading VBS
-That God will receive all the glory throughout our work


Thank you all for your prayers and I will keep you updated!