After an early breakfast and team devotion we loaded up on our bus and began the long and bumpy ride to Gulu.
We stopped in Kampala and picked up Sam Mdune who is with the Bishops office and will be our host in Gulu. Sam is a wonderful man who loves Jesus and has a smile and laugh that can light up a room!
The ride was not something I was looking forward to after having done it the last 2 years. Long, bumpy, hot, and lots of speed bumps (they call them sleeping policeman and there was a huge stretch of them every 20 feet) makes for a challenge. I must say it was not as bad as the past. The speed bump section had been smoothed and a large section of the road had new pavement. Now it was still long (7 hours) and bumpy (this is Africa) however, the weather was nice and the conversation lively! I could have used at least 1 more bathroom break (we stopped once in Kampala) but that's a small detail. All in all not too bad and some of the team (including me) managed to grab a few moments of sleep.
A couple of cool experiences on the ride. We got to stop and see a family of wild baboons up close and personal (from the bus) on the side of the road. That was very cool. We also crossed the Nile River at the Karuma Falls which is a gorgeous section of river with at least a class 6 rapid. It is loud and powerful and beautiful. The team got to stretch their legs and walk across the bridge. Very cool. It was good to walk a bit from the bus for sure! Then it got wild cool. A family of baboons came out of the savannah between us and the bus. Some of the team had some roasted corn from a road side stop and the baboons smelled it and came walking right up to us! We had to throw the corn away to get them to run off after it. That was a little to close for me considering our driver and host and the police on the bridge let us know how dangerous a baboon could be! Everyone is good and we have yet another experience to check off of our life lists! It is a great story, but a little scary!
We are at the hotel and relaxing before dinner. We will meet the rest of our host team and plan out our 3 days here. It will be good to see Titus, Solomon, Gabriel, and the rest of our friends tonight!
Keep those prayers up. Still some general body weakness and small sickness on the team. Everybody is doing well and we are ready to finish strong!
Let us celebrate a safe journey and talk to you all tomorrow! The plan is to head to Koch Chorom the next 2 days for medical clinics. Gulu and the surrounding villages are still suffering from the war ravaged by the LRA. The area is war torn and things are still desperate, but the church is small and growing and bring some hope and light to the people. Things are looking up since the LRA has moved to the Congo, but we will still come face to face with poverty,disease, sickness and hunger that is outside our comfort zones. But isn't that a part of the mission of the church? To go where the hurting is and be the hands and feet of Christ? Pray for us top be strong in the Lord and not in ourselves.
Talk to you later!!
CRT
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