Market Day!

DAY 12/13

DAY 12 was Market day.  Early Thursday morning, our group traveled to Uganda's capitol, Kampala to go shopping at the market.  Entebbe (where we stayed overnight) was nestled close to the beautiful Lake Victoria, and most of the scenery was lush and green.  As we traveled to Kampala, things changed a bit.

There were paved roads, skyscrapers, and SO much traffic.  Also, the smog and fumes were quite heavy!  This was the most urban area we visited while in Africa.

breathing through my head rag to filter the air a bit

There were also these giant, strange, prehistoric-looking birds EVERYWHERE.  They're called Maribou pelicans.  I wouldn't want to mess with one.  They eat the trash in the city so that's why there were so many hanging around.

Maribou Pelican in flight.  This doesn't do it justice.

scary

We had tons of fun shopping at the local market.  They sold pretty much any African souvenir you could want.  We bought quite a few neat items that will be featured in an upcoming RAFFLE fundraiser to raise money for our adoption.  The raffle items will be posted on here VERY soon!

Our flight out of Entebbe was late in the day and took us to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where we had a small layover.  It was interesting to be one of the few Americans in the whole airport.  There were many Muslims; the airport even had male and female prayer rooms set up.  Some of our team held our own prayer time in the airport, lifting up those who did not know Jesus as their Savior.

From Ethiopia we flew to Rome to refuel and then flew across the Atlantic overnight.  I was able to sleep for a couple of hours, but was pretty jet-lagged for about three days after we got home.

BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED:  

• The Spirit-world is REAL!
• God is bigger than I can imagine and His church is big.  
• There is no magic formula or manual for leading someone to know Jesus.  Sharing the gospel story is not as hard as I sometimes think it is.
• I can do nothing in my own power, but only when I am weak is the power of Christ made strong in me.  He enabled our team to walk more, endure more, love more, speak more, and He was able to use me even with all my inadequacies.  What a miracle!
• The people in Africa have some struggles that are different from ours, but the basic spiritual struggles were similar to what we experience here in America. 
• As a popular worship song says, "there is no power that can come against Your love.  The cross was enough!"  We definitely saw God conquer the powers of alcoholism, doubts, demons, and sickness while in Africa.  
• Ministry and missions can be hard.  It's not a glamorous lifestyle.  But it must be the most rewarding job in the world! 
• Finally, Jeremy and I do still feel called to serve in Christian missions full-time one day.  This experience helped confirm many things for us and this is one of them!

MUCH THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED US THROUGH GIVING & PRAYER.  WE COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!