Arrival in Adjumani

After three consecutive days of travel, our team has arrived safely in Adjumani, Uganda (East Africa). We are grateful and thankful for all the prayers that have helped us arrive here safe and sound. Our friends from Kampala provided gracious transportation to Gulu which took approximately 6 hours via taxi. The travel was particularly humorous since we only had nine people in the vehicle instead of the standard sixteen. We arrived in Gulu only to find that our hotel reservations had been dropped, but Jared and Alyssa did a great job finding rooms for all of us for the evening. Even without running water or electricity, a bed to sleep in was a good respite from the travels of the day. It was also good to spend time with Tiffani before leaving her in Gulu so that she could continue working on her counseling project focusing on women affected by war in Uganda.

The next morning, Jeff and Rick traveled down from Adjumani to pick us up. We traveled via truck from Gulu to Adjumani with Alyssa, Sarah, and Brandi riding in the cab and Jared and myself riding in the back. The roads were relatively smooth and dry, but Jared and I shared some exciting moments together in the back of the vehicle. When we arrived at Jeff and Michelle’s, we were greeted with a wonderful homemade meal. We shared communion together with Jeff, Michelle, Rick and Faye with the help of homemade bread made by Faye and red Crystal Light.

We look forward to a week filled with visiting churches and community leaders. We’re excited about the various supplies we were able to bring (clothing, candy, eyeglasses, financial support, etc.) and looking forward to seeing how these items impact the lives of the people here. Another particularly exciting aspect of our journey is that we have successfully doubled the “Mundu” population in Adjumani from four to nine! Jeff and Michelle are in the process of developing an intergenerational missional community here in Adjumani. They were recently joined by Rick and Faye, and it has been exciting and beneficial already to see how two couples from different generations are able to find common ground and work together for the good of the people here.

It has been good to spend some time with people who share the values and vision we have in our journey as a team. We began our time together with communion and we will end our time here next Sunday with communion before traveling again to Gulu. Communion was a simple reminder of our common faith and our common belief in God’s love for the people of Uganda.