OUR FIRST WEEK...

Our first week in Africa has come and past.  The weather has been mild for the most part, with a couple days above normal.  Mornings and evenings are tranquil.  At the airport, we were greeted with “Welcome Home” signs by several of the choir members…this was truly a special moment for us all.  Micah and Grace (the pastor of UCF and his wife) have been wonderful hosts.  Their guesthouse has been just perfect while we wait on finding a home.  Reba (Micah and Grace’s daughter who is 16) is becoming an aunty of sorts to our girls, helping with school and watching Disney DVD’s, she’s been a godsend.  Micah’s compound is full of life, with mango, banana and avocado trees surrounding the premises, and a turkey that is getting fatter by the day.  I think it’s D-Day is Christmas!  Lucy finally got her wish.  The monkeys made an appearance, and what a show they put on for her and the girls. 

Monday, the 22^nd,  we ran into our first of many challenges we will face here in Uganda.  When we went through customs the Wednesday before at the airport, we were only given a two week Visa.  In times past, I’d been given a two to three month Visa, but when I was asked why we were coming by the customs official, I told her the truth and said we were going to be living here.  Wrong statement!  She almost didn’t let us in, and made it very clear that we had just two weeks to obtain a work permit or work Visa.  We spent all day Monday trying to just extend our temporary Visa, so we would have enough time to apply for our work Visa.  You should have seen this place…first of all we went on a Monday, bad idea!  The line just to get in took almost an hour, and when we finally got in to the facility, which was made up of 4 large concrete walls and a makeshift tent, we waited another hour just to see someone.  I’m not kidding, you should have seen this place, I felt like I was in a movie set, it was like I was having an out of body experience.  Oh, and did I mention it was extremely hot, and I was not feeling the best.  Fortunately, my good friend Godwins and his wife was accompanying me and had an insider that met with us in his office.  We sat down and pleaded our case…it seemed as if he understood what we needed, but then the roadblocks began to build.  The details will make you cry, so I will spare you of them.  All this to say, we left there with a list of requirements and documents, which stretched the entire page the official wrote on.  And of course, this privilege doesn’t come with out a price tag, or should I say several price tags.  But as I said in the beginning of this paragraph, this is just one of the many challenges we will for sure face. 

For the people reading this that pray, and I mean have a prayer life that God hears, would you please help us?  Would you pray that God intervenes with the officials and people that hold the key to our staying here?  One thing I want to make super clear, Wendy and I are ok, and we are staying strong in the Lord.  We know and we are confident, that God didn’t take us this far to have us go home now…this we are for sure.  Believe it or not, we both rested well after hearing the news.  God is in control, not the Ugandan government. 

For all of you that are waiting to see pics of the girls and our surroundings, we are working on it.  The tech learning curve here is high for the moment, but we are navigating through it.  We will send pics asap we promise…