Not the end, only my beginning.

We flew out of Entebbe airport late on Sunday. Saying our goodbyes to our new African friends before we began the last leg of our journey. Although I thought this was going to be the challenge only to find returning home was the biggest challenge of all. We had the opportunity to explore Amsterdam after our 7 1/2 hour flight because we had a 6 hour layover and wanted to use our time wisely. Amsterdam was beautiful but I was very sick, I think my stomach wasn't enjoying the plane food at all so I had to hurry and find restroom before I threw up on everyone. In Amsterdam you have to pay to use their restrooms so that was another struggle trying to get Euros as I am about to get sick everywhere. But I really enjoyed exploring the area, everyone there is pretty active like riding bikes or roller skating but a lot of them smoke so I dont really know how well their health is. haha Anyways, we finally boarded our flight to return home which was an 8 hour flight and we were off. As we were leaving Chicago airport to head to Indiana I literally felt my heart swelling up. Its a feeling I will never forget because my heart started aching and I wanted to just get right back on the plane and go back to Africa. I felt culture shock in my own culture. Don't get me wrong I love home and I am so thankful to be home but its hard to be in a place of such fortune knowing there is a place in such poverty. We see poverty in America but its nothing like the poverty in Africa. There are ways we can find help but for some people over there they have no other option but to live on the streets. Ive never seen anything like Uganda, loving people in the midst of complete corruption and chaos. There are so many children that I met who I wish I could of brought home with me. All of them have such beautiful smiles and just full of laughter. There's so many emotions that are impossible to explain once you've experienced something so beautiful, so life changing. I know I am just one person but I want to see lives changed and I want to see this world changed. When I say the world that means ALL of the world and helping the people, teaching them the things that we know and not just giving them things. After going to Uganda I know that God has tons more for me to do all across this world. I am excited to see where He leads me and the opportunities He has in store for me! But I want to make a difference, I want to see lives changed, and I want to see people loved. Now that I've returned, Africa has become apart of me. Every bump I hit on the roads takes me back to the dirt streets of Uganda, The smell of food takes me back to the long awaiting moment of filling our stomachs with the same food we had the day before, When it rains I am reminded that some can not eat and are not sheltered in certain villages though I am blessed to have both, but I see the same sky, the same stars, and the same sun as the ones I so long to return to and I have peace. I know that the same God who so provides for me is going to provide for them. I just pray that we realize the needs out there and we dont stay in our comfortable bubbles. I dont know when the next journey begins for me but I know when I left Uganda that was not the end. I would repeat that awful journey of traveling 5 times, 20 times, or even 50 times just to do the work of the Lord. I have been blessed, I have been loved, and I have been changed.

 Here's a picture from the hotel. The higher up you go on the hill the nicer the homes are. The only things is only the nice homes are owned by people in government.

 Playing with the children on the playground! Oh what joy the children bring!

 Brooklyn and Kathy, both wonderful singers!

 This is Mercy, she went to the school in Kireka and she will forever hold a special place in my heart.

 Shalom, everyone adores this little girl. Her smile is absolutely beautiful.

 Here is a village we went to on our first Sunday when we visited Margarete's church. The children saw Mzungu's and got very excited!

 Here is some of our team.

 Brad got to ride a Boda Boda. Pretty much everyone drives one of these things.

 This is probably one of my favorite pictures of Brooklyn. I remember looking over and seeing all these children just lined up on her legs and thought it was the most precious thing ever! All the children loved her.

 We went to a church in Jinja where Dian and I had the opportunity to pray with all the women individually.

This is was on Sunday before heading to the airport. We got to go to the Zoo! So much different than ours but a really cool experience. Also, it was one of the biggest blessings that Jordan and I got to do this together. Not many couples get this kind of opportunity and we are very fortunate that we did! 

Kireka is filled with beauty, love, and the Lord!

Kireka is very beautiful in a different way than what we normally would think to call beautiful. The streets are very crowded, lots of shops, dirt sidewalks, and plenty of people taking double takes when they realize we are white. I love sitting in the window and just looking at how much different the culture is. We as Americans love much different but the people here are so passionate about the Lord and hungry for more. Today we went to Kireka Methodist church. It's the one we were at yesterday and will also be at tomorrow. The church isn't very big but they are in the process of building a much bigger building. The school is on the same property as the church and that's where I spend most of my time during the day. We usually have two speakers each day and and they talk for about 3 hours each. It's a lot of time but these people are so eager to learn more. Today Chad, Jordan, and Dewey spoke. They all did great for the time that I was in there. Today was much warmer than yesterday. I felt like I was dying as we were sitting in the church, of course there is no air conditioning. But I survived. Haha I wish everyone could meet the children here! They are so wonderful. I met a little girl today, her name is Shalom. She is so beautiful and just loves us white people. Her mother is on the worship team at the church. I also met Shalom's big sister Maria and she was a precious as can be, all the children are! A few of us on the team got to do VBS with the children at the school, there's about 29 students there at the moment but they would love to have more if there was the funds to do so. I met this girl yesterday at the school, her name is Katie and she stole my heart. One of my best friends name is Katie and it's nice to have a little piece of home here in Afirca, she lit up the room as well just like my friend. I told her instantly that my friends name was Katie and I would never forget her name! Also, most of their names are very hard to pronounce. The women at the church cook lunch for us and its amazing! I was very worried about my stomach coming over here but I honestly haven't had any problems yet! Praise God! It feels better with the food I've been eating here than I do at home. They don't use a lot of flour it seems so I don't have a lot to worry about. Their rice and beans are the best! I could eat them everyday, not even kidding! It's just a huge blessing to be here, I am so overwhelmed with joy that I don't even know what to think. Tomorrow will be another wonderful day of ministry and I'm all ready for what God is going to do! Sending much love back home! 

Here's the children in the class room. We were doing crafts with them.

More of the class.

Here's their playground. It's not very big and the swings are literally little wood pieces stuck between a square piece. It's very old and rusted. Would love to see them get a new one! 

But they still enjoy it!

This is the church they are building. You can see where the two little windows are, that's where they have church now. 

Jordan speaking today. 

Jordan, Brooklyn, and Kathy( who you can't see) playing music today. 

This is Shalom. She loves to smile and she loves taking pictures! 

So here's some of today! Enjoy! ☺️

Jet lag, plane food, and overly joyful!

So traveling has truly been an adventure. So far there has been no troubles but very exhausting. We started our journey at 8am with a 2 hour drive to meet with our team. From there we headed to Chicago, which was about another 3 hours of driving but we stopped at this little diner for lunch. We finally arrived at the airport around 1:15pm which gave us plenty of time to unload all of our luggage (which was a lot), get our boarding passes and luggage checked in, and get through security. Our flight didn't take off until 4:10pm so we had plenty of time to kill, so we all just relaxed before our 8 hour flight to Amsterdam. Boarding is easy as always, I got an awful seat with this horrible metal block in the way of where my feet should be able to stretch out but I made it work. Let's just say flying for 8 hours wasn't exciting and struggling to sleep on a plane is just as hard as it's ever been. The time differences have me all confused because when we left it was 4:10 pm in Chicago but we arrived in Amsterdam around 7am. We didn't get to leave the airport at all because our layover was only 4 hours but on our way back we will get the chance to venture out and explore a little of Amsterdam, which is very exciting! So the airport to me was just another airport. We relaxed, I peopled watched, and enjoyed not being cramped on the plane. We then boarded our flight for Uganda at 11am, we had to go through security again which took forever! But we made it onto our flight, this seat of mine is way better than before, I have amazing leg room. Laugh if you want, but I prayed for this and it happened! So the plane will have one more stop before Uganda to drop some people off. We won't get off the flight, only the people who need to will. Then we will be finishing our flight. This flight is 10 1/2 hours which is crazyyy!  Pray that the Lord gives us come crazy amounts of energy because from the airport we have a 2 hour drive to get to our hotel. So we won't be getting to bed until like 1am and will be waking up first thing tomorrow to start our first ministry day! We are 7 hours ahead of you guys so I'm sure by the time we get really use to that we will be on our way back home. Haha I'm so ready for this and all that God has in store for us and these people! Many blessings to you back home! xoxoxo

P.S. Airplane food isn't the best and it looks/smells weird and people from other countries dress way cooler than us. That's all. :) 

KML is who we have been flying with this whole trip. They have been wonderful and taken care of my gluten free needs which has been wonderful! 

Caramel Crunch ice cream. Yummy! 

They had a Starbucks!!! We were happy about this. 

Somehow they really butchered mine and Jordan's names though.

So we didn't have wifi last night upon our arrival so I will just continue what all has happened on the same blog.

Let me start out by saying that the people in Africa drive crazy! They don't have a lot of driving guidelines and a lot of wrecks do happen. But it's all fun and exciting. While driving to our hotel from the airport last night we didn't get to see a lot from our vehicle because it was dark out but the people here were out and about doing things. Our hotel is pretty nice. Most of us have our own rooms which include a bathroom. Which is nice to have. I slept well since a lot of time went by flying and no sleeping. But today we had to be up and ready to go by 8am for our first day of ministry. Which was a fantastic day. We got to go to Kireka United Methodist church which also has a school. Some stayed while they taught the pastors while others played with he children. I went with playing with the children of course! They are so very fascinated with our skin color, which makes sense, we are the only white people I have seen since we've been here. The children know English very well and they are very smart! They sung us lots of songs and we got to play games with them. Today as we were leaving we drove by a few children and one starts yelling "white people, white people", not in English though. It was so funny! Everyone stares at us so that's how you knows it's very rare for them to see white people. But this is amazing and the people here are as well! Everyone is so welcoming and they are so hungry for more of God! It actually feels like I have already been here, must be because I've dreamed of it for so long! 

This is the type of van we will be riding in while we are here. They are very roomy and actually pretty comfy.

My comfy bed. 

The bathrooms are small but it's a bathroom. 

This is the view from our hotel. The higher up on the hill you get the nicer the houses are. 

I took most of my pictures on my camera so you will have to wait for them. Can't wait to tell you how tomorrow is!

Love you all! ❤️