The Journey Back

Will and I are safely in Arua, Uganda with our teammate, Justin! Here are some pictures from our journey back to Africa. 

Us at the airport in Indianapolis. We still look energized at this point in the journey, but our total travel time was about 30 hours, so we didn't look so good by the end of the journey! We flew from Indy to Dulles, then to Brussels and then Entebbe, Uganda. It was then about an our drive from the airport to our guest house. We got in around 11pm local time. The flights were fine overall! We experienced several hours of turbulence on our flight to Brussels, but it was manageable. After boarding the plane in Brussels, we were told that the engine was not starting, so they needed to call the mechanic to fix the problem. That always makes you feel good before you fly for 8 hours! We sat on the runway for 2 hours while the plane was being fixed and then had a smooth flight to Uganda. We are grateful for everyone who was praying for us during the long flights! Praise the Lord for safe travels. 

We stayed in Kampala for a few days. During this time we bought groceries that we cannot get in Arua, stocked up on medicines, tried to get over jet lag and I was able to have an appointment with a midwife. We were also able to spend time with some of our fellow Serge missionaries who work in Bundibugyo, Uganda. Our time in Kampala overlapped with them. It was so nice to see familiar faces! 

On Tuesday we left Kampala around 7am to drive to Arua. This is about an 8 hour journey. Our favorite driver, David, took us on the trip. This picture is overlooking Kampala at the beginning of our journey. We stopped for gas here on the way out of town. Fun fact about Africa, when you are getting gas, if the person filling you car wants to be able to fit more gas in the tank after it is "full", they will aggressively shake your whole car to make room in the tank for more gas! It is quite a shock/ entertaining when you are sitting the car while this is happening :).

On our way to Arua we pass over part of the Nile River! It is truly beautiful to see!

A view from the van along the way. The terrain is very beautiful.

This is a herd of hartebeests we saw along the road while we were driving!! We also saw giraffes, baboons, and antelopes. God's creation is so beautiful! This life is an adventures and we are very grateful for the reminders of that along the way!

When you are driving in Uganda for a long journey, there are very few bathrooms. There are long stretches that look like this with no one and nothing in sight. When nature calls, this becomes your bathroom! 

We passed by a lot of fires on our journey. From our years in Africa, this has become normal to us, but it is still alarming at first. This fire was the result of someone burning their farm at the end of the farming season. Some fires are also from burning trash. They burn ALL trash here (even plastics, etc.) because there are not trash collecting systems in place. So, the trash fires often smell very bad because there are all kinds of chemicals, etc. being burned. 

We are grateful to be in Arua! Will, Justin and I are housesitting for a missionary family who is in the States for several months. They have a beautiful home and run a small guest house. We will run the guest house while they are away. We are looking forward to beginning our work with the South Sudanese Moru community this week. We will attend their church service this Sunday and hope to start language lessons this coming week. Thank you again to everyone who prayed us along this journey! We miss our families very much, but we are grateful for the time we had in the States and are happy to be back in Africa and continue the work God has put before us here.