Uganda-bound

Early Thursday morning we departed Colorado Springs for the Denver airport to start our journey to Kampala. I was glad to be traveling with my project leaders, Henry and Justin, who are much, much more experienced travelers than me. We flew first to Minneapolis, where we were frantically trying to make sure that everyone on the team was on track to get to Amsterdam on time. It turns out that we had two people get delayed – one for weather, the other happened to be at the same airport that the President (of the United States) was at so it got shut down for a while. Thanks, Obama.

Other than that, the flight to Amsterdam went off without a hitch. We met up with the rest of the team there and headed to Uganda. I slept for most of that plane ride, but had an opportunity to have a quiet time as well. I hope you don’t mind if I share a little bit about what I am learning on my trip right now. I have just started going through Genesis and am amazed as I fly over God’s creation – whether it be the frozen tundra of Minnesota, the giant span of the Atlantic, the Alps, the Sahara, or even the lush hills of Uganda – and his creativity and diversity. The first verse in the bible – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” – has always been something I have taken for granted. It took us over 24 hours of flying at nearly 600 miles to get here. The earth is massive. And it is excruciatingly detailed. Next time it is night, go look at the stars (if you’re in Dallas, you may just want to look it up online) and think about the extent of God’s creation. Time and Space are relatively amazing if you ask me (haha, get it?).

The other thing that really struck me was Genesis 1:28, which says “ And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Verse 29 goes on to say that God has also given us the vegetation of this world. What a responsibility it is to have dominion over the entirety of the planet. At the risk of sounding like a tree hugger, we don’t do a very good job of this. Even I, who am an advocate for sustainable practices and everything, am terrible at this. I don’t want to promote an agenda here or anything, but at the very least, this is something that should be thought about. We have a huge responsibility as the human race to take care of this world.

Anyways, we arrived in Entebbe as scheduled, which is about an hour’s drive away from where we would stay in the capitol of Uganda, Kampala. The drive to the inn was, in a word, exhilarating. (Mom, don’t read this next part) Lanes in Uganda are more of a guideline than a rule. I don’t know how many headlights I saw coming straight at me. Motorcycles (bota botas) fly around the street like swarms of flies. We were almost driven off the road multiple times by cars (without headlights at midnight) that were passing cars in the oncoming traffic lane. To be fair, I think we drove some people off the road while passing as well (Mom, you can start reading again). All in all, a very interesting experience in which I grew closer to God.

Finally, we made it to the inn at which we were staying where a few pleasantries were made and every one fell promptly asleep. The accommodations here were much better than expected. We had a shower (but no hot water), mosquito nets and electricity (but not after midnight). In the morning, breakfast was cooked to order and was very good. Afterwards we had a meeting with the team where we discussed a few things about the trip ahead. Basically, one van of people would depart for RG that morning while the rest waited for the stragglers and would depart the next morning. I was part of the second team. This gave me a chance to explore Kampala (which is a big city compared to the rural Karuma where RG is located). I have gotten to see eMi’s East Africa office and even walked around the market. I write this to you now from the East Africa office where the interns gather on a Saturday to get Wi-Fi and to interact with one another. The market was very interesting. Everything is very inexpensive. I got a coke and a pack of gum for a little over a dollar. Probably the most interesting vendors at the market were the meat vendors. Slabs of raw cow meat were simply hung in windows for people to inspect and buy. Good thing they don’t have an FDA here…

Anyways, everyone here is polite and the culture is very positive and interesting. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but this is a great place to be. I really like it here so far and am excited to see what is to come of the next few weeks. This may be the last blog I have to write for a while because I may or may not have internet. I will try to keep writing things down though and will post them when I get back. As always, thank you to my donors who have made all this possible! I have a few prayer requests:

-       pray for safe passage for the two remaining team members who are trying to make it here. They should be here tonight but you never know I guess.

-       Pray for Restoration Gateway: that we would be good servants of their ministry and that I wouldn’t offend anyone because of my cultural ignorance.

-       Pray for the guidance of the spirit that we would do the Lord’s work and not our own.

I think that’s it for now. If you would like to donate to this cause or to me specifically, you can do so at http://emiworld.org/donate.php

Thanks and blessings (and gig ’em)

Ryan