Departure and Arrival

Departure:
As excited as I am about going to Ugandan Christian University (UCU) and serving, saying goodbye to family and friends tempered much of my excitement. Every goodbye felt a little more painful then the last, kind of like when you slowly pull off an old bandaid. Once I was done saying all my physical goodbyes, I still had to get through my emotional goodbye. I found these waves of sadness flowing over me, seemingly triggered by a mere thought of the following words: home, friends, leaving. Trying to find some humor in the situation, I would randomly start repeating one of these words over and over in my head so I simultaneously shed a few tears and start laughing. My seatmates on the plane gave me a few side-ways glances over this, but it helped me get over my emotional attachment and start focusing on my purpose of going. Another aid in helping me refocus was the words of God which kept flowing into my mind with every wave of emotion: "I am with you always" "the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds..." "I have prepared a place for you" "I will give you rest". These encouraging words reminded me that I was not traveling alone, rather God was traveling with me as much as before me. I truly felt His presence beside me. What a comfort that was!

Arrival:
Travel to Uganda happened mostly without incident. I say mostly because on my connection from Chicago to Amsterdam, they made me check one of my carry-on items. Although I presented all the reasons why I should be able to keep my bag, they over-ruled me, checked my bag, and reassured me that it would find me in Uganda. As you can imagine, this was false assurance. Though to give them some credit they did not specify when it would find me in Uganda :). My companions, other professors that will be at teaching at UCU who I met in Amsterdam, and I arrived sleep deprived in Uganda close to 11pm. After getting our visas, we trekked to baggage claim to retrieve our luggage. Almost all our luggage arrived quite promptly. My forcibly checked carry-on bag, however, was no where to be seen. A baggage handler, thankfully, directed me to a sign with my name on it stating my bag had not made it onto my flight. Then, after some waiting, phone calls, and paperwork, I was told it would likely arrive tomorrow. When it comes in they'd arrange for it to get to me. I still don't have my bag, but they sent a text last night saying it was on a flight going to Uganda. Hopefully it will arrive here without incident.

Once we made it through that small incident, we quickly found our driver, Vincent, who warmly greeted us with a hug and drove us to UCU. A little after 1am, we drove into campus and met a fellow professor from Bethel, Karen, who came last week. She has a very spacious apartment on campus that I will be staying at for a few days while I settle into my apartment. I am very thankful to have Karen here. She comes about three times a year to UCU and grew up on the mission field, so she is not only a gracious host but an amazing resource to aid my transition. These next few days will mostly be about getting settled and then I will start to transition into teaching. Please continue to pray for me, specifically about my final bag arriving intact and that I would not be overwhelmed by the settling in process. Also, if you could thank God on my behalf for making his presence known to me and helping me arrive, mostly, without incident :)

With faith, hope, & love