23
Aug
2007
Aug
2007
Greetings from Uganda!
Bijenda bitya (How’s it going?)
We’ve made it to Jinja after a long long arduous journey. We landed in Entebbe only to find 13 of our 15 checked bags. Fortunately the most important boxes arrived with all our personal belongings and Dale’s guitar. We were stopped in the Entebbe airport by some “security people” who wanted to “tax” us on the donations we brought over. We found out later that there is no such thing 
So it’s a good thing we didn’t give them any money.
Dale, Pastor Nelson, and Pastor David met us outside of the airport to take us through Kampala to Jinja. Here’s where the real journey began. How can I even put to words Ugandan driving? Thrilling…scary…fast…a lot of passing huge trucks with on coming traffic. If you’ve never experienced passing a truck on a two-lane road and seeing two taxi vans coming straight at you in both lanes, then you haven’t lived! Boy the rush.
The van we rented took 7 of us, and Pastor David’s car took the other 4. We had a wonderful “muzungu” (foreigner) moment in the middle of downtown Kampala where we ran out of gas. Three gracious newspaper-men pushed our van 100 yards uphill to the nearest Shell gas station with all the locals pointing and asking us, “Muzungu, how are you?” Ack. How embarassing.
After that feat and two hours of Ugandan driving later, we settled into our beautiful home in Jinja. We have adorable neighbors who befriended us immediately upon our arrival. The country is beautiful. The people are beautiful. The food is delicious and God is so good.
Thank you for all your prayers and your continual support! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s update…
Comments
Hallelujah! So glad you all made it there safely and found a beautiful home with adorable neighbors.
You are doing a great job of staying in touch and we so appreciate it! Please include specific prayer requests as you have need, so many are praying for you! Be filled and covered with God’s grace and love!
Shawna many thanks for such a great opening filled with humor and insight on your travel and arrival! So happy you all got your important personal boxes and that you are all happy with your new home! Let the adventure begin
Thank God that you all made it there safely! We will continue to keep you all in our prayers. Please post more pictures
How’s the weather there?
Thank you Shawna for your update. Such a relief for us here at home to know you are all there safely. We look forward to the team’s daily updates and echo Tina’s request for specific prayer needs. There is a whole bunch of people here in Malaysia as well as Melbourne, Australia upholding you all. Blessings!
Thank God you made it safe and sound! I miss you! Shawna, your humor and gratitude to God is beautiful! love you guys!
Yay! I am so glad you made it, even with those little stumbling blocks. I am sure it was a sight to see. I miss you guys already. I heard you saw Skye at the airport. what a coincidence! I am praying for you all. God is so good, and I know he has gone before you.
Great to hear from you! Praying for more energy and love for those around you.
Shawna, I’m thrilled that you made it to Uganda and your home for the next few weeks. When you wrote about the rush of Ugandan driving it took me back to Thailand and how wide my eyes were when the taxi driver weaved, zig-zagged through the crazy streets of Bangkok. God keep you protected and growing as you experience all you experience!
He has been and will be good!
Blessings to you,
Sharon
wanted you to know Presby prayed for you all this morning. you are in my prayers daily or whenever I think of you! Glad you arrived safely and seem to be eating well and loving the beauty you see reflected in the country and its people. Blessings of the Lord!
Shawnkiepoo!! I miss you.
I got your update email. I haven’t read anything on this website but I wanted to post a comment on your post. I’m flying to Penn. on Wed and I’m really not so keen on taking a plane–sigh! Haha. But anyway I loved your email and I look forward to exchanging trip stories when you get back…!!