Uganda Trip Day 1 July 31, 2009
Getting to Uganda was one of the hardest parts. We had to take a plane from Tampa to Detroit (2.5hrs), Detroit to Amsterdam (8hrs), and finally Amsterdam to Entebe’, Uganda (8hrs). In all flight time was 18.5 hrs with a total travel time of just under 30hrs. It makes for a VERY long day. However we arrived safely (although Melissa puked after the Detroit flight, turbulence was horrible) and all but one persons luggage made it. We arrived in Uganda at night where we loaded all of our luggage into a truck and then filed onto multiple buses for the 3hr ride to our hotel in Jinja. The hotel we stayed at was very nice and well protected, although as the week went on I realized that we didn’t really need protection.
The next morning we met for breakfast and then went on to visit a construction site where a church from Houston, TX (The Met) is building an orphanage. It was one of the most beautiful location I saw while in Uganda. It sits on the Nile and you have beautiful views all around. We prayed for the workers there and then made our way to an orphanage where we painted inside and out. Its hard to describe the conditions of this orphanage (Ms. Agnus’s place) in words. I think you can see it best from the pictures. The living conditions were very difficult to see. We were able to a least make the inside and out look a little better. While we painted the kids sang for us which was a huge blessing. To hear these children sing songs of praise to God and just be so happy was very humbling and emotional for me. We then took the the kids back to our hotel where we set up a dental and medical clinic for them as well as gave them clothing and toys. Again to see the joy in their eyes was a priceless blessing for us all.
Having experienced all this less than a day into our trip I knew that the mental difficulty would far far outweigh the physical difficulty I was going to experience from then on. It was a great first day and there were many more ahead.
SEE ALL THE PHOTOS FROM DAY 1 HERE
Gone Fishing July 30, 2009
What did the girls do while we were away? A whole bunch of things, but one of them was fishing with my brother Tony.
Tony said “Mom and I took the girls fishing while you guys were gone in Africa. As usual no shortage of excitement including Haley catching a SHARK, by herself. Lorin caught the first fish within 5 mins of putting in our bait, which we caught with the cast net. Lorin caught the Blue fish on her own as well.”
The sun sets on our Uganda trip July 29, 2009
Our team has returned from a super successful mission trip to Uganda. I look forward to sharing with everyone, especially those who are part of this team, about what God did through everyone. I need some time to mentally process everything as well as catch up on some items at home. I have over 1500 pictures and dozens of videos that we will share. I want to especially say thank you to everyone for your prayers. Your prayers were answered and we felt them throughout our trip as our team traveled safely and in his grace.
Fourth of July, Fireworks and Fun July 7, 2009
We spent the 4th of July weekend down in Bonita Springs. You can see all the fun times we had by going HERE
