Saturday Dec 14:
We touched down in Uganda today! Oh seeing the land and knowing we were done traveling was awesome, but the excitement to hug some kids was even better. We got our visas and got waved through customs so cut off 30-45 minutes of extra time on that end. We walked out and the first and only "mzungu" (white person) we saw were Sharon, Tom, and Gracie our ride back to Good Shepard Fold (GSF). We loaded everything in the car and headed off. We made a quick stop to get some food and a little orientation to Ugandan culture and GSF, before we left Sharon and Gracie to pick up Gracie's mom the next day and headed on to GSF. We then made our little 3 hour trek in Ugandan traffic back and were met at the gate by 50 kids, staff, and missionaries singing us a welcome song. We got out and greeted everyone and decided to walk up to the guest house since we were so tired of sitting and all the little kids were hanging all over us hugging, squealing, and jumping. It was quite a welcome, and much appreciated after the 36 hours of quite sitting. We settled in and headed down to eat with the second missionary family we met, the Gwetney's. We ate peanut butter chicken that one of the house Aunties had prepared for us with chapatis and rice and a really good black bean and corn salsa. GSF is one of the only places in Uganda where you can get a HOT shower and drinkable water right out of the tap. Neither of which is a necessity, but both are nice. As we headed off to bed they warned us about an animal called the hyrex saying "if you feel like you hear a women screaming in the background, don't worry it is just our friend the hyrex." In my video I will put the sound it makes and you can decide if it sounds like a women, but I am glad they told me, because it really would have freaked me out when I woke up that night.
Sunday Dec 15:
We got to go to church this morning in the village with all the GSF kids and missionaries. The guy that spoke was Jonathan, the young guy in the photo below and the other guy is David, one of the elders. The pastor of the church left a couple weeks ago unexpectantly and they do not know if or when he will be returning. The really cool thing about David is that when he was a child he had polio (they think) and is very weak in the lower extremities. In typical Ugandan culture and churches he would be outcasted and not allowed to enter the church because of this "uncleanliness" but this village church does allow the individuals with disabilities to not only attend but serve on the elders if appropriate.
After church we got a little time to talk to one of the interns (Steven) and make some guacamole for the Global Outreach missionary party which we attended that afternoon. The party was for all the missionaries currently serving with Global Outreach all over Uganda, and it was a really cool time to see what all was going on in Uganda and what each of the ministries does. One of the missionaries there was Julie (who you will hear a lot more about in the future) and she is a special needs teacher and a 5th generation missionary. She is actually with African Inland Mission (AIM), which is one of the organization I have been very interested in serving with, so it was really cool to hang out with her and Sabrina (a short term occupational therapist that is traveling with her). She told me that her typical accommodations was a tent that she pitched where ever she was and I responded with "I want to go with you." She laughed. I was being serious. That night was pretty quite, we went on a tour and hung out with the team coordinator (Sharon) and her husband Tom as well as Gracie (another intern) and her mother that arrived today. They shared what they do at GSF as well as some of their dreams for the organization and children here and some of the initiatives they are starting/hoping to start. Then we were off to bed as jet lag set in.
Live Foolishly
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