UGANDA - Medical Team arrives

To God be the glory! We all made it to Uganda safe and sound! We have a small group on this trip: Angie from Tampa; Jon from Charlottesville, Virginia; Jason from Wilmington, North Carolina; and Ron, leading the pack. This is Angie and Jon's first time in Uganda, and it is also our first international mission trip. We are very excited to begin spreading the love of Jesus Christ in Uganda!

Ron and I met at the airport in Miami, and flew to London where we met up with Jon and Jason. We arrived in Entebbe around 11pm, and Michael met us at the airport. We loaded the bags into the back of Michael's pick-up truck, and headed to Kampala. Ron and Jason were very excited to know that they have the luxury of an air conditioned vehicle during this trip. I guess that is one of the bonuses of traveling with such a small group! 

It still was a bumpy ride though! And Jon and I are still getting used to the way that people drive in Uganda. I know that I hit the "fake brake" from the back seat a few times thinking that another car or motorcycle was going to collide with our truck. Michael would just chuckle at us, and keep driving. He is such a sweet and funny guy!

We stayed the night at a hotel in Kampala. We all were definitely ready for some sleep! In the morning, we had a yummy breakfast at the hotel, and then headed to the grocery store. Ron and Michael did some grocery shopping while Jon, Jason and I did some shopping at the Ugandan craft store next door.

We stopped in Jinja on our way to Kamonkoli and ate some lunch and did a bit more shopping. Jason, Ron and I all bought beautiful paintings to take back home. We drove for about two more hours, and finally arrived in Kamonkoli.

I still cannot believe  the scenes that we observed while driving through the country. However, the one thing that I did notice was that all of the children looked so joyful! It would be pouring down rain outside, and the children would just be running alongside the road laughing and splashing in the puddles like they did not have a care in the world!

When we arrived at the Hine's Ugandan Ministries guest house, we unloaded our bags and headed to Katherine's house to eat. Although she is not here at the moment, as she is back in the US, we were greeted by warm smiles and embraces. We sat down at the big supper table and ate right away. It was delicious!! We did not stay too long since we got there so late, but we plan to go back tomorrow night to watch a movie with the kids.

We also plan to go to the children's Awana program tomorrow morning before we begin doing inventory of our medical supplies. We are all very excited to get some rest and see what else God will bring forth tomorrow!