After a 25hr journey we arrived in Arua, Uganda. We left Nairobi at around 8pm and drove on the bumpiest road I have ever been for the next 9hrs until we arrived at the Ugandan border. I don’t think anyone got any sleep, and I was very glad to get off. At the border we were greeted by about 100 men on bikes offering to take our gear across for us – like I was going to give my bag to a stranger in the dark. It wasn’t far to walk but then we had to wait for a couple of hours to get through customs and then to find transport to Kampala so was about 7am by the time we left.

We got a van, tied all our luggage onto the roof and then we all squeezed inside – 13 of us because we were travelling with the base leader from Arua and his wife and friend. 6hrs of lovely smooth road and one crossing of the Nile later, we arrived in Kampala. I cant believe how good the roads are here, they are almost as good as western roads. I don’t know what went wrong in Kenya! In Kampala we fought traffic and carbon monoxide poisoning to find the bus which would take us north to Arua.

It was great to be on the final leg of the journey – only 8hrs left! It took a while to get out of the city but once we did it was clear road ahead. Well until it started pouring with rain! This is real tropical rain as well so it was bucketing down. Not long after the rain started we came across an overturned lorry, not an uncommon sight here. We also met the speed bumps. These things are lethal. The bus would slow right down but when we hit them we would still get shot out of our seats! It probably didn’t help that we were sitting in the back, but it was fun – at least for the first few until my organs started to be repositioned..

We crossed the Nile another 2 times before the sun went down. I started noticing flashes of light in the distance, I wondered whether that was artillery as we were going past a conflict zone. But it turned out to be lightning. It got a lot more intense, lit up the entire sky and did not stop for hours. Around 9pm we finally arrived in Arua! It was great to get off the bus. Unfortunately it left before everybody got their bags! So we chucked all the bags we did get onto the 4 wheel drive that came to get us and then 9 of us climbed onto the back and we took off after the bus! It was quite surreal after 36hrs or so of no sleep to be standing on the back of a car chasing a bus. We did catch up and got the missing bags back.

We got to the base and had a late dinner, posho and beans, that is pretty much all we eat now. Posho is like mashed potato except super sticky and denser and the beans are just delicious!

After dinner I had the best shower ever! There is a small structure outside with walls and no roof. The shower is just cold water from a tank perched above. What is so great is that you get to look up and see all the stars. I have never seen them like this before there are so many and they are so bright and you can see the milky way. I can see now why people are so into astronomy.

So we had a few days off before starting ministry. We went to a church a school and a prison. At the first two I shared about some things that have become important to me since starting DTS. During one of the weeks (of DTS) we asked God to show us anything about ourselves we believed that was not true. God showed me that deep down I believed that I thought I was not capable of doing some of the things I have wanted too. During this time He told me that I was in fact capable. This sounds pretty basic stuff but when you are dealing with your own beliefs it is quite a big deal! So one of the things I spoke about is how we are all capable of more than we think.

The second topic was dreams. People here are not good at thinking long term. All they think of is where their next meal is coming from. So I shared with them the power of dreams and how God wants to give them dreams and use them to do great things.

We have spent the last week in a village called Vura. We were hosted by Bishop Ona of the Zion Methodist church. Everyday we went out to do ministry. We went house to house and talked to people, we shared our testimonies at the market and we finished the week with an open air crusade type thing where we did dramas sang songs and preached the gospel. It was a lot of fun. I no longer have any fear of getting up and talking in front of people, I’ve had to do it so many times with no preparation that it is easy – although we have had to speak through a translator which gives plenty of time to think on the spot!

On Saturday it was Julianas 18th birthday so we surprised her with the gift of a pig! We slaughtered it, gutted it and cooked it and feed around 40 people. When I say we I mean our hosts, we weren’t allowed to do anything. So we had this big feast and we even baked a birthday cake in a mud brick oven (it came out perfect). The Bishop loves ceremony so it was very formal, Juliana was presented to the crowd (along with two matrons), many speeches followed along with eating lots of pork and rice.

We are now back in Arua and have spent some time sharing with the local kids and speaking at schools and the prison again. On Monday we are leaving for Soroti for our last 2 weeks of outreach.

Well that’s all for now folks..