Day One

Well after 18 hours of flying, we finally touched down at Entebbe airport in Uganda… it was as sweet time as we stepped off the jumbo jet onto the tarmac… AND the very first person to greet us was an airport official who walked us through the process of getting our visas and then…he prayed to receive Christ! …the first person we met. I had been told that the spirit is moving here but now I have truly experienced it. Another amazing thing was that out of 36 bags we checked, only one was lost en route…and we hope to get it tomorrow or the next day…just pray that Chance Pircher can find another team member that wears the same size underwear. We stayed our first night in the Olympia hotel…of all my mission trips this was my first night sleeping under a mosquito net. We had an exhilarating (a.k.a. freezing cold) shower this morning and we’re off to visit Bethany Village, an orphanage that houses about 600 children. Tonight we will be staying at a beautiful colonial guest house called Adonai.

Later that day…

What a cool first day in Africa. We drove this morning to the waterfront of Lake Victoria and offloaded onto two 30 foot by 3 foot boats that resemble American Indian Dugout Canoes powered by tiny 15 horsepower outboard motors and steered by African teenagers. We were off for a thirty five minute ride across Lake Victoria. And no, there are no seat belts or life jackets. It was beautiful trip and although most of us were drenched it really kept the heat at a minimum and turned out to be refreshing. Once we landed at Bethany Village we met a group of over 300 orphans gathered to see out program. We sang “It’s a Great Day to Praise the Lord” over and over until they could act it out and sing it with us in English. Then we did our living parable of Adam and Eve and got kids from the audience to come and act it out. They were precious and some of them really hammed it up…especially the little girl playing Mary…she copied every movement and facial expression that Tish Hicks portrayed to a tee.
– Donny Anthony

What an incredible day it has been. I thought it was a joke when Pastor Enoch said we were getting onto boats to travel to Bethany. I said, “Get out!” We have definitely had an adventure. After the living parable/music presentation and lunch, we played games with the children. The entire team had as much fun, if not more, as all the children. One of the boys said he could tell I was from Texas because of my hat (it was a cowboy hat)! I can’t even begin to describe how precious these children were. The soccer balls we brought were a huge hit and I was almost stampeded after bringing the first one out to play. Probably one of the most moving things that happened today was that Tish got to meet one of the nine children she has been sponsoring for a couple of years. His name was Eric. He got to stay with Tish all day and he and his brother even ate lunch with us. Pastor Enoch said that was like Christmas for them. I have a feeling many of our team members will be sponsoring children after this trip! After a long day of touring the orphanage the loving on children, we arrived back at Adonai House and rested before an amazing dinner PIZZA! We even had pineapple for dessert. After that, we had our team meeting to prepare for tomorrow. During this time, we were surprised with letters from friends and family. So far, everything has been wonderful and the week hasn’t even begun! We are all so excited to see how the Lord will continue to move!
– Katrina Simmons