So after 32 hours of traveling, I'm here. Here is Entebbe, but just for the night. Tomorrow we'll head up to Mbale, the city we'll be in for most of the trip. Our team of 16 all arrived, along with all but 2 bags. Not too shabby.
Preparation for the trip was honestly really hectic! I had about 30 hours after returning from NC on Tuesday night, and was scrambling most of Wednesday. I did however manage to sell a Jeep that afternoon which required going Denver. Awesome, but not helpful for the tight time line. On the way back to Boulder, I was scarfing down some Subway in the parking lot of Walmart (naturally)and was having a bit of a moment of overload. God showed up and I just felt him telling me to 'be still' and reminding me that He was in control.(psalm 46:10) I took a moment there to just relax and surrender things to Him. What a needed reminder and relief, experiencing His presence in the midst of a bit of chaos. That afternoon I got a chance to visit then 1-day old Banner Nelson. Awesome! What a precious gift Jared and Kristen got this week! Wednesday evening and into Thursday was mostly packing, and after a solid 40 minutes of sleep, Amir hooked me up with a ride to the airport at 4am. What a huge blessing!
Once I got to the airport, the rest of trip was pretty smooth, no real glitches, and not even that painful. Going through Detroit and Amsterdam split up the long legs in equal 7.5 hour portions which seemed to help a lot. Plus those planes are pretty tricked out, with individual screens, movies, music, etc. The first leg, I was in economy plus and got spoiled without knowing it. The second leg I was in the cheap seats until the flight attendant asked me "Howard yurt dewing wheat the legrum? To which I replied "uhhhhh" and was offered an open seat (or 3) in economy plus. Nice! Thanks Ms. VanLarsenburgen, or whatever your name was. =)
It was a short trip to the hotel where we are for the night, competing for wireless bandwith with about 4.5 million mosquitoes. Good thing for bug spray and nets. Now if I had only thought of bringing a fan.....hummmm
Will keep you posted as I can!