Our Time in Ntinda

So Internet has been scarce the last couple days so we will try to catch you up on everything, but so much has happened that you are probably getting a very brief overview.

First off, on Saturday we journeyed to Ntinda to help at the Agape Baptist Compassion Project. Unfortunately, even though we had confirmed days before, communication was lost somewhere along the line and none of the kids were informed to show up. It ended up being a very bittersweet predicament though because it enabled us to go back to the Children’s Village for the day. We got to spend a couple hours with the kids before giving a long, hard, tearful goodbye to each kid. It was hard on all of us to leave them and we really saw how much of an impact we had on their lives when they wept at our departure.

We went out to dinner that night at a place called Café Java and the food was fine, but it was just nice to go out after working the last couple weeks at the Village.  Then we went to the home of the Masiko family, where we have been living the last couple days. They graciously opened up their home to us and allowed us to just relax and enjoy Africa. We did not really do a whole lot, but we had a great time hanging out with their family. 

The first full day we were there we went to church at Agape Baptist and enjoyed a Bible study and a message about the work and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. After that we came back and relaxed for a while before we went grocery shopping. The Masikos had asked that we make them an American meal so we spent the majority of the day buying groceries, cooking, and doing the dishes. It was a great experience though and we were happy to bless them with our food, even though cooking in Africa was quite the experiment. The girls made pasta, pasta sauce, chicken, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and a vegetable medley and they really enjoyed everything. The boys were put in charge of dessert and so they ended up making smoothies for appetizers and then a white cake with nutella frosting for dessert. Even though it took the whole day, we were so glad to do that for them. 

Then on Monday we went into Kampala, the capital city, to do some shopping. We went to this wonderful craft store, which is a marketplace that you can barter at, and we had a blast! It was so fun not only finding great items, but talking our way down to great prices. Then we went out to a late lunch at a restaurant called Nandos. There they try to give Uganda some American food by serving burgers, chicken, pizza, and ice cream. Soon after finishing we went home to be reunited with Sandy Balli (Chelsie’s mom) and her mission team from Calvary Chapel Lake Arrowhead, as well as ¾ of the James family (the missionaries at the Village). We had a huge feast as the families and teams came together and we enjoyed a lot of speeches about having our common love and common goal for Christ. It was so fun, but we were sad that we had to go through another set of hard goodbyes to the Calvary Chapel team, the James family, and some other great friends.

Then Tuesday morning we began our long journey home. We left a little before noon in a rented bus and drove a couple hours to the airport. The team enjoyed a couple of snacks before boarding the 5 hour flight to Dubai, which is where we are right now.

We landed safely, as you can tell, and we rushed through the visa process, got on the metro (or the nol as they call it), and went straight to the mall to see if we could catch any movies. We ended up watching Madagascar 3 and then getting some McDonalds, since everything else had already closed. Now here we are back at the airport lounging around and waiting for our flight back to LAX. Please be praying for a safe journey home because we still have at least 20 hours of traveling left.

We are all exhausted and even though we all wish we could have stayed with the kids in Africa a little longer, we know it’s time to come home and we cannot wait to rejoin our families and friends again. God has completely rocked our worlds and I’m sure every one of us would love to share that.

To see what will probably be our final pictures, go to Uganda 2012 Album 6.

We love you all and really appreciate your support for this blog, but especially for this trip. It has meant the world to us. We hope to blog once more and inform everyone of our safe return.