Uganda At Last!

Thank you so much for your prayers - I have officially arrived in Uganda! After a pretty grueling experience through the Abuja airport in Nigeria and a pit stop in Ethiopia, I landed in Entebbe at 1:15am last evening. It feels so great being back here. I could feel God's presence and blessings even as I walked off the plane, went through immigration with no problems, and received my luggage first out of all of the passengers (Yes that's right - all four of my bags came before anyone else had picked out any of their bags). It may seem small, but it felt like a huge blessing after a long day of travel! I was picked up at the airport by a driver from Central Inn where I have been ever since. My friend and now roommate Casia and the Gwartneys (a missionary family at Good Shepherd's Fold) drove out to Entebbe this afternoon to drop some interns off at the airport and spend the night at Central Inn before we drive to GSF tomorrow morning. 

This evening we went to dinner at a restaurant here in Entebbe. It's right here on Lake Victoria. I received a full welcoming from all of the little Uganda bugs! And when I say full welcoming, I mean that swarms of lake flies greeted us from off of the lake. I took a couple pictures, and they don't do the experience justice, but hopefully it'll help you get an idea:  

That light brown stuff is a big pile of BUGS! They fly in swarms and then die (or just hang out? They were still moving) on the group beneath the lights. Yes, Uganda is still full of bugs!

This picture is the light above where they all swarm before dying

It truly feels refreshing being in Uganda, and I have not even arrived at GSF yet. I'm looking forward to a great reunion with the children tomorrow!

Although it's great being in Uganda, it was definitely sad saying goodbye to Daniel and his family in Nigeria. The past two weeks have been nothing short of wonderful. Daniel's family welcomed me into their home like I was their own daughter. The weeks were filled with conversation that showed me the depth of the Christian heritage that Daniel comes from. I was privileged to receive a tour of Daniel's parent's medical center, Christian Medical Center, where his parents both doctor and evangelize the people of Jos. My trip also conveniently overlapped with Daniel's birthday!! We were able to go to Elysar, one of his favorite restaurants in town.

Another highlight of the visit was when Dr. Mrs. Iya invited me and Daniel to meet her prayer group. They pray for their children every week and have been doing this for ten years. They said "We're mothers, at this age what better thing do we have to do than get together and pray??"  There are about 8 of them in the group. They took the first 20 or so minutes of their time to ask me some questions and then prayed for me and Daniel, committing our relationship and my trip to Uganda to God. They were at the Iyas praying for 2.5 hours. Afterwards they asked if we could "record" the time together with a picture: 

Daniel and I with his mom's prayer group

Please pray for us tomorrow as we drive from Entebbe to Jinja (about 3 hours) and I reunite with the children at GSF! Also pray that these first few weeks of transition would be smooth and full of God's presence. Praise God that He protected me during my travels from Nigeria and that I've been reunited with Casia and the Gwartneys!

Reunited with Cassia!