Saturday, May 25, 2013

The Conclusion of the Crazy Travel

There we were in Montreal... We got our tickets straightened out and made it to our gate with a few hours to spare. At 7:15 we took off on time for our 5 1/5 hr flight over the Atlantic to Amsterdam.
At this point we were still unaware of Jonathan's travel status. But, as the story was supplied later, he had arrived in Entebbe, Uganda, went through customs, and was treated by the driver who was supposed to take him to the hotel. He thought that he would be able to drop off his luggage, get the rooms, then go back to pick us up. Once he got to the hotel they told I'm out flights had been delayed and that we would be there tomorrow. So he bunkered down for the night and spent the day at the hotel.
Meanwhile in Holland... We had a three hour layover, two of those hours were spent running to opposite sides of the airport to get tickets and luggage confirmed. But we made the flight with an hour to spare and took off on our 10 hr flight to Entebbe, with a short stop in Kigali. Mm and Dad barely slept on either flight, but Paul, Timmy, and I got a few hours of sleep. Regardless, we were all exhausted.
Then came the moment we've all been waiting for, or at least me... We landed in Entebbe and made our way through customs, then we walked outside. Thankfully, Pastor Michael had been able to get ahold of Jonathan and he knew to meet us there that night. He was waiting for us with the driver outside the airport. Ten minutes later we were at our hotel and had our rooms. We went upstairs and got a nice hot shower. Well, the boys didn't, they didn't have enough water pressure so they took bucket baths instead.
The next morning, after a hot night of sleep under a mosquito net, we walked down to the beach, had a fantastic breakfast (coffee = fantastic, African Tea=fantastic, mangos = to die for), and packed up. We enjoyed a nice walk down the road and saw tons of monkeys. Then waited for Pastor Michael. Now it is 1:30PM and Pastor Michael has arrived to take us to Kampala.
Thus ends our journey in Entebbe.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Canada Connection Correction

We began our journey to Uganda yesterday morning. We left Skippers, VA (mom and dad's place) at 8:30AM, went to the bank to get our money, and arrived in DC by 2PM without any issues. (Special thank you to my lovely sis-in-law, Ryanne, for driving us.) We made it to our gate and chilled for a couple hours before being told that our flight was delayed 10 minutes. No problem, right, maybe not. Once we boarded the plane, we had to wait for 30 more minutes while the correct paperwork was given to us. Apparently there was some computer errors. Thankfully the flight was only an hour long. We hit the ground in Montreal with 30 minutes to spare. Unfortunately the plane which had been docked in our terminal before us had some mechanical issues and we had to be moved to another one. That took 20 of our 30 minutes. I quite literally ran off the plane and leaving the others to grab the luggage I flew through customs and in 10 minutes I made it to our departure gate. Again unfortunately, the plane had just pulled way.  I met back up with the rest of the group and we went through customs and started the reticketing process. That took 3 hours, but the lady was nice and helped us as much as she could. We were given hotel and food vouchers and they took care of us quite well. The cool thing was that the lady at the hotel told us, after we explained our plight, that she too was a believer and she prayed we would have a safe journey.
I know God has a reason for changing our plans, and we look to see that. In all things he does what is good. Here are a few things you can pray for today and tomorrow:
1. That we would have a safe flight to Amsterdam and then to Uganda.
2. That Jonathan, who is traveling separate, would also have safe flights, and that he would get the messages we left for him concerning our travel changes.
3. That God would be glorified in all this and he would give us gospel opportunities while we travel.