We are here! We had an early morning wake up call at 6am to arrive back at the airport in time for our 9:20 flight. This one was only 6 hours, and I was wide awake after all the sleep I've gotten so I started reading Shauna Niequist's "Bread and Wine," which I highly recommend. I did sleep for the last little bit, then there we were at Entebbe Airport!
We paraded our group of 19 through the Ebola check and visa line, picked up 37 bags, and were met outside by Richmond from Pastors' Discipleship Network (PDN), our partner group for this trip. He had with him other PDN staff including Arthur (who came in the top 4 for the entire country on the African equivalent of American Idol), King Peter (his actual name is King, how cool is that?!), Luke (who has been a pastor for 20 years), Fred (our driver--no small feat on these crazy roads), and Barbara (an American whose story I am excited to learn). All of our bags were loaded separately into a van while all of us and the Ugandans piled into the bus.
We drove through Entebbe into Kampala and into the beautiful landscape of our hotel. I don't really know what I expected, but I didn't expect the surroundings to be so gorgeous! Everything is so green. I sat next to King Peter during the ride so he was able to answer all of my questions about things I was seeing on the streets. We also tried Stoney for the first time, a kind of ginger soda.
We got checked into our hotel very smoothly, thanks to the work that the PDN had done in preparation for our arrival. Our bags were carried up to our rooms, and we freshened up quickly to set out for our dinner reception to take place at the East Africa PDN Headquarters. Our 35 minute drive turned into an hour & 15 minute drive due to the crazy traffic, but we got to see the sun set over the hills and learn a little more about the culture from Barbara during the drive. At one point, after she had described hie friendly Ugandans are, one of the girls on the team had to use the restroom. We were driving down a street full of houses, so Richmond jumped out of the bus, knocked on a stranger's door and asked to use her restroom, to which she said of course!
We pulled up at the PDN and walked into the gates to African drummers--so. Cool.
The PDN team introduced themselves, including Rose Mugabi who I had skyped with several times prior to the trip, but more on her and her family tomorrow. We said a blessing and the staff served us an incredible African meal with several types of cooked bananas (still can't top banana boats with Thomas in Pfronten, but delicious nonetheless), chicken, rice, potatoes. SO much food.
We chatted with the pastors and other staff through the end of our meal before loading up and heading back to our hotel to catch some sleep before our first full day in Uganda.
We are so thankful for safe travel and arrival, and for such a warm welcome from all of the staff at PDN. Every task, every meal, every meeting begins in prayer which is such an important refocus for all of us. Thank you all for your prayers-- please continue to pray for safe journeys and effective witness.
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