Our total travel time: 33.5 hours

The Expeditions team left training camp on Tuesday the 17^th at 6:00 am and flew to Amsterdam and then from there to Entebbe, Uganda. When we got there we stayed in Kampala at a hostel where we camped outside for the night. Once we had arrived at the hostel we found out that we were going rafting on the Nile River in the morning, probably one of the best surprises of my life!!

After we finished rafting we then headed to another hostel in Jinja for night and then packed up the next day and headed for our ministry location in Tororo. While heading there we ran into a couple of interesting situations.

The first was that when we were passing through town and there was a huge fire. To get the people to leave the surrounding area they set off a tear gas bomb.

The second event was that there was a massive traffic jam, so our driver decided to drive on the opposite side of the road until we found out what the problem was. There had been a truck that had fallen over and was in the middle of the road, so we all had to get out of the car while our driver proceeded to off road around and out of the accident.

Over the course of the last 14 months my greatest desire was to return to Africa. I've had to stop, blink a couple times, and then take a deep breath numerous times this past week. I'm back. It's like returning after a super long vacation. When we stepped off the plane in Entebbe the humidity hit my face like a rocket. It was then I realized I was home. It's the strangest feeling. Yet, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. We had quite the adventure getting to Tororo where we would be for the next month or so. It included hostels, white water rafting, bungee jumping, fires, turned over trucks and waiting, waiting, waiting.            

Sunday we had the honor of visiting patients at St. Anthony's hospital. I'm no stranger to doing hospital ministry but this time things were different. The place seemed heavy. It wasn't the hospital I was used to going to in Kenya where the majority of the people spoke English and walked around serious, but with a smile on their face. This place seemed hopeless and broken. When we first entered the men's ward to begin praying, they just started at us. I'm not sure when the last time they had seen a white person was, let alone a white person coming to pray for them. I've seen healing happen in the hospital, so I was eager to get right to praying. I jumped in, asked questions, got a little background information and I began to pray. I find I grow the most in my prayer life when I am praying boldly and have an attitude of 'not taking no for an answer.' God wants us to pray boldly and to pray the 'impossible' because He likes to show His goodness to us.

When we had finished in the men's ward we were walking from place to place and noticed a room with a door half open. In Uganda, if a door is half open it might as well be fully open because we walked right in. We were in a private room full of ladies and one lady in particular was laying on the bed. She wasn't talking, or looking around. She was just laying there, lifeless. I had asked the ladies what her name was and they responded with a quiet 'Claire.' Claire was Ugandan, with dark, sad, brown eyes. She didn't smile and made no attempt at eye contact, but she listened to every word I said. I had gone on to ask why Claire was in the hospital and how long she was going to have to be there. The response was definitely one I was unprepared for. Claire had just had a full-term stillborn baby.

The look on her face said it all. She was broken, lost, and looking for answers. She didn't know why this had happened, and neither did I. Most people think Christians have the right answers and to know what to say at any given time but I was at a lost for words. I quickly processed what I had just heard and began to pray. I spoke life into her, and told her I didn't know why this happened but God wouldn't leave her. I told her it sucked and if she needed to cry, to cry out to God. I also began to tell her that she was loved, and she was renewed and made whole. It was a simple prayer, but one I pushed through to finish. God was breaking my heart in the smallest way for what Claire was feeling and if the only thing she got out of my visit was the kiss on her forehead and my holding her hand, than I am perfectly okay with that.

I know this isn't the last Claire I'll encounter in these next four months. But, I'm believing that one prayer, one kiss, one held hand can make anyone's day better.

We have been doing door-to-door evangelism everyday here in Tororo, Uganda. The Lord has been moving in powerful ways; over one hundred people have accepted Christ after talking with someone from our team this week!! Yesterday, Thursday, was another day of evangelism. I was paired with two ladies from Deliverance Church who are absolutely incredible, Esther and Regina. We were ministering in the neighborhoods behind the church and there were tons of kids following us (not unusual!) shouting, "Mzungu! Mzungu!" (mzungu means white person, this is what we are called everywhere we go). I turned around to wave and smile at the kids and I saw Onibu. My heart was so happy! Last night after evangelism we got to play at the church with the neighborhood kids, so I got to play with Onibu as well as some of the other kids whom I absolutely adore. When it was time to go, Onibu started saying something to me, but I couldn't understand because it was not in English. A twelve-year-old girl named Esther who had talked to me a lot translated for me. She told me that Onibu said he did not want me to leave, that he wanted to come with me. As we drove away he did not take his eyes off of me. I pray I will be able to see him again before we leave Tororo; this little boy has stolen my heart.