Lots of Traveling!

Well, I’m here and working on getting settled in. It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks with long flights and lots of time in trucks on crazy roads. Here is somewhat of a recap of what I have been up to:

On my way here I had a layover all day in London. I put my one small carry-on that I was allowed in storage, caught a train into town and spent the day wandering. It was quite nice other than the fact that I was only going on a couple hours of sleep!

I think I like public transportation. At least I like London’s. You can get all over the place, and much faster than in a car.


I have seen a lot of the sights before, and went to several of them last year when I flew through London, so I didn’t really feel the need to wear myself out more by trying to see a whole lot. However, for any Harry Potter fans out there, I did make a point to get to the King’s Cross train station to find platform 9 and 3/4. My sister-in-law found this last winter when they were in London and I thought it was so great that I had to see it. Sadly, since I was by myself, I wasn’t able to be in the picture like she was in hers, but oh well. I still think it’s hilarious that they set this up.


I also went to Harrod’s, which is an amazing store. It is huge! I didn’t buy much, but I spent a significant amount of time just looking around.

I grabbed a sandwich for lunch and went to Hyde Park to eat and just relax. It is so pretty there and the place is huge! I had a good time people watching for a while. There was a group that was playing a game that looked like some variant of softball. The funny thing was that most of them must have been on lunch break or something because they were all dressed really nice. So just imagine a bunch of adults running around in the park in suits and skirts! I wish I had taken a picture of that one.

Has anyone been wondering where Patrick Swayze has been lately? I personally had not given it any thought, but I saw this poster in the subway and thought I should share. So if there are any Patrick Swayze fans out there, he’s now starring in London.

Since arriving in Uganda I feel like I have been going non-stop with lots of travel and meeting lots of people. When I arrived, I stayed with some missionaries in Kampala (the capital of Uganda and not too far from the airport) for a couple of days. I got in on Wednesday morning and a couple of other girls who are on the team here in Mbale flew in on Friday morning. The rest of the team came from Mbale to Kampala on Friday night. Then on Sunday we all drove to Mbarara to meet with other missionaries from around the country. On our way there we crossed the equator, and of course, we had to take a picture. I have now been in the Southern Hemisphere twice!

I had actually gotten to meet a lot of the other missionaries last year when I came to visit. It was nice to get to see them again and spend some more time with them all. I was not really expecting them to remember me because they all have so many people that come through for visits. However, nearly everyone knew they had met me, they just couldn’t figure out why. It was funny to watch them try to figure out why I looked so familiar. Most of the time there was spent in fellowship and discussing what was going on in each of the ministries around the country. It was neat to hear how God is working in the different places.

Tuesday we drove all the way back to Mbale, which is about an eight-hour drive. Here are some photos that were taken along the way. (Mode of Transportation)








(The Nile River)


(The Nile again. We crossed this several times going back and forth and I still think it's really cool!)





(This is the beginning of the worst segment between Kampala and Mbale. The pavement ends and it is just a huge, bumpy dirt road for about for about 30 minutes. It's crazy, cars just kind of drive wherever they want and it is super dusty!)











(Mt. Wanale - This is what you see as you drive into Mbale, it's pretty amazing!)


(Mt. Wanale with Mt. Elgon in the Background)


(Mountains Again - They are so beautiful, the pictures don't do them justice. It is so cool to walk outside and see Wanale right there)


It was so nice to finally be in Mbale where I could actually unpack! Most of Wednesday and Thursday were spent unpacking and getting ready to begin work here. I am living in a house with three other girls. They all seem really great and I am looking forward to getting to know them more. There is plenty of space and we all have our own rooms, so it’s really pretty nice. And we are splitting costs of living, which is very nice. Here are some photos of the outside of our house. I’ll take some more of the inside when it is more in order. We have a lot of straightening and decorating to do!














On Friday, four of us loaded back up in the truck to drive back to Kampala. The annual National Meeting (similar to a lectureship) was being held there this year. I believe that last year was actually the first one and it was held in Mbale. None of us were looking forward to getting back into a car that soon, but I’m glad we went. It is basically a time for the Ugandan church leaders to get together to encourage each other, share what is going on in their churches, and grow spiritually together. We got to meet people from all over the country and it was very cool to worship together with all of them. On Sunday we headed back to Mbale after church.

Here is a map of Uganda so you can see where all I have been:
Entebbe – Kampala – Mbarara – Mbale – Kampala – Mbale


Now it is Monday morning and I don’t have anything that has to be done today. It is quite nice! Mondays are the team’s day of rest and I am very thankful for that! I am looking forward to a quiet day and getting a little more settled in. Another huge plus is that the power is on today! We are currently on a 24hr on, 24hr off schedule with the power. It comes on around 6pm at night and (usually) stays on until 6pm the next night. There isn’t really any guarantee that it will always stick to this schedule, so we always like to take advantage of the power when it is on! It makes life interesting that’s for sure.


This is a picture of our team that we took last Wednesday night after our team devo. That’s right, there are a whole lot of girls! There are two other families and another guy who are also on the team, but they are currently on furlough. So for now, it is nine single girls and the Shero family. I’m sure Phillip Shero is anxious for the other teammates to return so that he won’t feel quite so outnumbered! I hope to take individual pictures of everyone soon so you can see who everyone is and what their roles on the team are.

That’s about it for now. Hopefully it won't be such a long time before I post again. I hope that everyone is doing well. God bless!