We Made It Here!

We made it! Barb and I have arrived safely and mostly soundly in Uganda. To say, “It has been an experience” is an understatement. Let me tell you a little about it.

We were scheduled to fly out at 5 p.m. on Saturday, the 22nd. After we had checked in, we, and a lot of fellow travelers, found out our flight had been canceled. We trek back to the ticket counter to find alternatives. By the time we got through the light to the agent, he announced that our flights had been rescheduled. We would now be leaving Peoria at 1:35 Sunday afternoon. A little bit of quick math in my head questioned whether we would still get in Uganda on Monday morning. He looked at a couple of screens on his computer and, “Yes, you’ll still arrive Monday morning at 8:30.” Great we thought.

On the way home from the airport, disappointed we were still on the ground, but grateful that we would still arrive on time, we began pondering the wonders of how we could put a 19 hour flight into less than 10 hours on the clock. Hmmmm. Some thing was wrong somewhere. I checked on line for our reservations and found out we were arriving in London at 6:30 a.m. the same day we were landing in Entebbe, Uganda, at 8:30 a.m. The flight from London to Entebbe was still scheduled for 11:05 Saturday evening! I grabbed the phone.

After about three hours and two buck-passing airlines, we were scheduled for our original flights, just two days later. Disappointed that we would not arrive until Wednesday morning, and spend Christmas Day in Heathrow airport, we were still grateful that we were able to go. We were now waiting for Monday afternoon at 5pm.

Sunday about noon, we found out that our originally rescheduled flight on Sunday afternoon was canceled. Is there a pattern starting up here?????

Monday morning we are anxiously checking the airlines for flight delays and cancellations. There was that big storm on Saturday, fog on Sunday, and who knows what else was happening. The airlines tend to get backed up with delays like that. 12:00 noon – our flight is showing a 50-minute delay. 12:10 – being just a little AR, I checked the flight coming in from Detroit upon which we were to fly to Detroit. It was showing canceled. I quickly moved to the Peoria airport site and now our 5 p.m. flight was showing canceled. Grab the phone – quickly.

Buck-passing continues between airlines, each one saying it is someone else’s responsibility, call them. British air finally found us seats on a 3:40 p.m. flight that afternoon which would enable us to catch our Tuesday night late flight to Entebbe. However, because they did not issue the paper tickets, they could not go ahead and issue new tickets. Call Northwest. Around 2 p.m. we finally got everything straightened out but we were supposed to have been at the airport by 1:40 to check in for this international flight. While I’m finishing up online, Barb is gathering all the things we needed and getting them in the Jeep. We dash off to the airport.

Fortunately, there is no line at the ticket counter. Strange, we thought. They, American Airlines, were able to book us through to Entebbe. We dashed back to security, said hello to the people who cleared us on Saturday, and walked leisurely to our gate. On the way, I stopped at a vending machine to get something to drink. I put in one dollar bill, and it took it. The second, it refused. We had no change, and no other dollar bills available. I hit the button to return our dollar and got… 20 nickels! Then I returned to the other side of security to get some change. Mission accomplished, change in hand, return through security. But, alas! The security door is closed with a sign saying they will reopen at 3:45 pm. My flight leaves at 3:40! Knock, knock, knock. One of the Security people ambles over and says they will be open at 3:45, like the sign says. I tell them my flight leaves at 3:40, and they say, “No, it doesn’t. It’s been cancelled.” didn’t you hear the announcement?” I told them Barb was back there still, and so they went after her. Two very sad puppies right now because if we miss this connection, we can’t get to Entebbe until Saturday morning!

Back at the ticket agent’s counter, we begin investigating options, which are slim. They could get us to Chicago on a United flight later that evening, but that would miss the connection to London, however, they could book us on a flight through Brussels (Belgium) later and get us into Entebbe at 11 p.m. Wednesday. With the travel arrangements already confusing and set in Uganda, that was not an option. Option #2, we could drive to Chicago and try to catch the 7:55 p.m. flight to London. Hmmmm. It is already 3:00. If there is no traffic, if there is no weather, we might be able to make it on time. We’ll try. Thank you very much, we tell them.

We get into the Jeep – it needs gas. We head out and drive to Chicago, getting gas en route. Not being real familiar with O’Hare, we get on the phone to Picker who gets us the information we need. He said “Lot D” is the closest to the international terminal. We should park there. As we drive up to drop Barb off with the bags, all six of them, we notice that Lot D is only $50 a day. Hmmmm. $50 a day for 13 days. Ouch! I drop her off, and find the Economy lot; it’s only $16 a day! But that is better than $50. Now how do I get from where I am to the terminal. There’s an elevated train. Never been on it, don’t know it’s schedule, but I don’t know where I am from the terminal anyway. Take the train.

By the time I got to the terminal, Barb was still in line. We waited patiently for the agent to help us. When he pulled up our itinerary, his chin hit the floor it was a mess! We were already checked in for the Chicago to London flight, and checked in for the London to Entebbe flight, but they were wrong! About 50 minutes later, and a very gracious ticket agent – his name really is Richard Anderson, and he worked like McGiver - we were on our way back to Security and the gate. You may have noticed that we haven’t eaten yet. No problem, there’s a meal on the plane. McGiver did give us better seats on our London flight, so that was a nice flight. We didn’t sleep any – who can sleep on an airplane?

We landed on time in London and were looking forward to our Christmas day experience in what we thought would be a nearly deserted Heathrow. Do you know how many people are traveling on Christmas Day? We staked out our territory by Gate 7 – it was nearly empty when we arrived. Watched it fill up and empty; walked around the airport; had some tea; ate some lunch; ate some supper; kept returning to our staked out Gate 7, and bided out time until our flight had a Gate assigned and we could go there. We would fly out of gate 1C. We had a home we could go to! Our flight! While we are waiting, another flight is “night stopped” – it won’t fly. Will our Entebbe flight go out tonight? How empty will it be? How many people fly from London to Entebbe on Christmas night? Simple answer: a lot!

The flight was uneventful, though long in coach seats. We tried the other meal British Air was offering. Watched more movies, listened to more music, and bided out time until we landed at Entebbe.

We landed in Entebbe a little early. Betsy had told us how to get through immigration and where customs was, so we were ready. We stood in the immigration line with our $60 for visas and waited. While we were waiting, we heard the agent in the next line tell his people that the visa was $50. We handed the agent our passports, shot records, and $60 for two visas. He looked at them, tossed the money into the drawer and gave us a receipt for $100 for two visas. Where is customs? Where are our bags? Did they even arrive?

The bags did arrive – all of them. So we got a cart (they’re free in Entebbe International Airport, and larger than in the US), loaded them with our bags, and headed to customs. There are two lines at customs. Well, one very short line, and two signs: red customs and green customs. Red had one family in it. Green had no body in it. And almost everyone was heading straight to the exit. Let’s follow the crowd. If they stop us, they stop us. They didn’t stop us! We saw Betsy and D’rae waiting for us with signs, and everyone was very happy. But we hadn’t experienced riding in a Ugandan taxi yet. Oh my!

If I tell you the ride was harrowing, believe me. If I tell you we thought we were going to die in Uganda in a traffic accident, believe me. If I tell you we thought our driver was going to run over bicyclists, moped riders and motorcycles, believe me. Traffic laws. I don’t think there are any. We saw one police car in the next 4 and a half hours of our journey. We’re told there is only on per district.

Since I am writing this, you know we made it safely to Mbarara where Betsy lives. We slept well that night - the first sleep since Sunday night. It was now Wednesday night. We slept for about 11 hours! It was good to be here.

On Thursday, we spend the day in the Ruti village area. We visited with three families in three different villages around the Ruti trading center area during the day and had our first two experiences with Ugandan food. Same meal almost exactly at two houses. It was edible, but very bland. The Ugandans don’t seem to use any spices in their cooking. That is not necessarily bad.

Getting to the village was an adventure in itself. First we walked from our lodging into town. It was just a few blocks. We stopped at a market and picked up gifts for our hosts in the village. This something the missionaries always do because the village people always put out there very best when they visit them. The village of Rutu was outside of town several miles. We could walk, but it was about an hour and a half walk. Betsy convinced us to ride the boda-bodas. These are mopeds with an extra seat on the back. What an experience! We’ll have pictures of it later. And we’ll tell you about the meals later also.

Friday, we got up at 3:15 to get a taxi to the Queen Elizabeth National Park. It is a game preserve on the western side of Uganda next to the Congo. It was an experience, again, like we’ve never had before. We saw some great animals. Did you know that hippos wipe their bottoms with their tails while they are emptying their bowels? Neither did we, but we saw it. Hilarious site! That hippo was about 15 feet from us and walking about free. One of the staff at the lodge where we ate breakfast and lunch in QENP, told us not to get too close. We really didn’t need that advice, but he stayed around anyway to make sure. There were also wart hogs, a momma and her baby, wandering around the gardens of the lodge. We were supposed to take a boat ride on the channel between Lake Edward and Lake George, but it didn’t work out. So we went on our afternoon “game drive” – driving around the park looking for game – to see some elephants. It was now about 3:30 in the afternoon, and the elephants were going down to the lake for water. We saw a herd – a bull, three cows, and five calves! We were excited! That bull elephant was HUGE!!! That sight made our early morning trip worthwhile. But there was more to come. In all we saw over 100 elephants that afternoon.

God’s animals are beautiful. Stubborn, but beautiful. One of the young male elephants was crossing the road in front of us. There had been a mixing of two herds at that one point, and that is a bit tenuous. This young bull was about last. He was trumpeting, stomping, and just really showing out. He saw us and directed is tirade towards us. No problem for a third grade teacher – Barb talked to him. And he seemed to listen. She was elated, and we all had a great laugh.

Speaking of funny things, there were several that day. In the morning, we were looking for lion. Our guide, who was also our taxi driver both times, kept in touch with other guides and we found out there was something sighted at one place. We went there and found a number of Kob, that’s a small antelope kind of animal. As we watched, we saw a lion poke its head up from the grass, and begin herding a lone Kob. Then we found out there was another lioness lying in wait not far from where we were. We found that out as Barb was walking along the grass by a brush outcropping, and our guide said, “There’s a lion in that bush.” You should have seen Barb’s face, and her quick retreat. Granted the lion was about 75 yards away, but it was scary, but funny afterwards.

Oh, by the way, Thursday was our second anniversary. You should have seen the looks on Barb and my face when Betsy mentioned it. It was hilarious. We had both forgotten it in the tiredness and hecticness of our journey.

Today, we are waiting for a celebration this afternoon for some of the locals Betsy and D’rae know. They have no family locally, and this is going to be a Christmas celebration. Gigi, a local whom the missionaries hire to cook, is preparing a typical Ugandan meal for the celebration. It will be almost identical to what we had on Thursday, BTW, what we ate on Thursday with the exception of goat meat and millet, are the diet of the people in the villages, and for the most part in town.

This journey is quite an experience. God has blessed us, taught us, and carried us. The glory belongs to Him.

Where Has It Gone?

August, September, October, November, December… Where has this year gone? In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, the second half of 2007 has flown by as we have been busy with life.

School started up for us in August, and it is has been a very busy school year thus far. That’s not a bad thing. Barb’s class is a nice size this year, but it has its challenges, as each class does. She learned of a Pilgrim project in early November and put it in place in time for Thanksgiving. It was quite an adventure as the students embarked on their own crossing in their own Mayflowers with their family and friends as their co-travelers. It was an exciting time, but consumed a great deal of time in preparation (this was the first year for it) and in executing it in the classroom. It was a great breathing break when Thanksgiving came around.

I was privileged with teaching a class at the East Peoria church during this fall as well. I had approached the shepherds about teaching on Wednesday nights from time to time, and they took me up right away. Then they handed me the base material – it was to be a study of the times between the Testaments. It was also a topic that I had never taught in more than twenty-five years of full-time preaching and teaching. The opportunity had simply never come up. So, the adventure began, and what an adventure it was! It is said that the teacher of a class gets more out of it than the students, and in this case, that was certainly true. There were many hours of preparation each week for the mid-week adult class.

There was another blessing in it for me as well. In my work with the school children, I am able to introduce them to and help them use various Microsoft Office programs, including PowerPoint. This class allowed me to use some of the theory what I had been teaching my school students in a real world setting. If those in the mid-week class were candid, they may acknowledge that the accompanying PowerPoints improved over the three month teaching period. Though I am not able to use it with my Sunday sermons, I am thankful for the opportunity to have been able to use it in my teaching.

During these past few months we have also been making plans for a great adventure. In July, I surprised Barb with tickets to Uganda. In just a few short days, Christmas break will be upon us at school, and we will be flying to Uganda to spend the holidays with Betsy, Desarae, and their friends. The last few weeks have been filled with getting everything together for that adventure. We have filled a couple of tubs with food and gifts for them. I know they will be eager to open the tubs and see what family and friends are sending to them, but even more, I look forward to that first hug and Mom and Daughter share when we arrive in Entebbe on Christmas Eve. Thank you, God, for blessing your children.

There have been family changes this year as well. Some of our children have moved around this vast nation. Betsy, of course, moved to Uganda (but only for a year – this time). Sean and his family moved from western Iowa to Morristown, Tennessee. Stacy and her family moved from Maryland to San Antonio, Texas. They also added new grandson Caleb in the process. Grandma got to spend a week with them. Ben’s girlfriend successfully defended her doctoral dissertation and has taken a position in Evansville, IN. (The highways will be much better because of the additional gas taxes he will be contributing.) And Jeremy and Kendall moved from Arkansas to the Houston, Texas area for her graduate work. God blessed Jeremy with a full-time position with the Clear Lake church primarily working with the young people. Laura and Jeremy are still around here, but Jeremy did change his teaching position, and in February, their family size will change as well when Ansley makes her debut.

It’s been a full year. It’s been a taxing year. But, behind it all, is the God who loves us and carries us through all the challenges living presents. To Him be the glory this day and each day.