We are home!!

We are back! What a great week - and what a great greeting at the airport tonight.

Friday morning, we left our hotel in Jinja and visited the village of Mufibira. They have a small school building and a growing congregation. From there we went back to Nakabango for a short visit and to say our goodbyes (my least favorite part!) The pastors and I met with the Nakabango council to talk about some changes to the sponsorship program and constructing a church building. We got some good information while the rest of the team played netball with some of the girls in the village. Netball is like basketball - except no dribbling and there is a very small rim and no backboard. We had lunch in the village and told everyone good-bye. Dorothy sent me off with a huge jackfruit, "sweet" bananas, & avocados.

We stopped back by Bufula to clarify some information about land that is available to purchase. There is a possibility of another church sponsoring this village - great news! Their congregation was planted by Nakabango and we're familiar with a lot of the people there.

Then it was time for the long drive back to Kampala and some shopping. The guys managed to do some damage in the shopping market and were just as proud of their purchases as anyone!

Our plans were to have dinner at Charles' and Eve's home but we hit some horrific traffic and could only stop by their house to change clothes and re-pack our suitcases. We managed to get to the airport with not a lot of time to spare.

Our flights were wonderful - all of them were on time! Some of us even showered at the airport in Amsterdam. Since we didn't have converters to use blow-dryers, Lesli and I weren't real proud of our hair, but we definitely felt so much better. Also enjoyed our $10 breakfasts at the McDonald's!

Arrived back in St. Louis about 20 minutes early. Lots of family and friends were there to greet us. It was hard to say good-bye to the team after spending so much time together. God truly had His hand on us and blessed us in so many ways. I can't imagine anyone who came back unchanged - myself included. I will never become immune to the need of some of these people. My prayer is that God would open our eyes to His plans for us in the next few weeks. The connection with the folks in Uganda is tangible and growing; unexpectedly they have blessed each of us in so many ways. As much progress as has been made, there is more work to be done. Thinking of the impact of constructing the church/gathering place - so many lives will be touched.

It's 1:30 am on Sunday morning; I've been asleep since 7:30 last night, but my body thinks it's 10:30 in the morning - so confused. I will try to make more posts to this blog in the next few weeks as stories are told and plans unfold for our future in Nakabango.