Together at Last

Our team finally met together for the first time on the weekend of March 23-25th! We had all known each other previously except for Abby, who came all the way down from Virginia for the weekend. On Saturday morning, we met at Eastwood to discuss the summer: our fears, our expectations and what we want to ask God to do. It was a very encouraging time, and I'll be sure to post the list of things we're praying for soon.

From Eastwood, we ate lunch together at Jason's Deli and then went KAYAKING down the Coosa River (except for Steph). It was awesome! There were times when we were slightly concerned about Abby and Sara, but they looked like pros out there! The day was better than what we could have planned, and I think we're all more excited for the summer now that we know everyone and have some goals set.

Prayer Request

Steph Jones has recently told us about a situation with her new job. Her boss told her that she really would prefer Steph to go on the 10-day trip (while our team is mostly settled on taking the 15-day option now), and that the speech-pathology clinic couldn't handle her being absent for the trip we're planning. We're asking for your prayers-- that Stephanie's boss would change her mind and let her go for the schedule we have planned, allowing us to be a part of both church plants instead of just one. Steph has been really excited about this opportunity, and we're praying that she take part in this incredible experience in Uganda. We'll keep you posted...

Details from Dave

We recently spoke with Pastor Dave Eby and got some details on life in Uganda and how our trip could look. After arriving on July 6th, we'll be working with a church plant in Uganda's capital and largest city, Kampala. We'll be staying at Eby's house, so some of this time will be spent doing orientation. Other time will be spent working in one Kampala's slum areas.

From Kampala, we'll head 3.5 hours to the village of Kogady which lies on the western side of the country. Villages compose 88% of Uganda, so Kogady will give us the best understanding of what life is like in this country. We'll be working with a ugandan pastor, Lazarus (awesome name), from the 9th to the 16th in ways of medical and mercy ministry, as well as local evangelism and gathering for church. His church plant will actually see its first service while we're there on July 15th!

Our last whole day on the 19th will be a free day where we'll spend time at the Nile River, and then we'll head back to the States on the 20th.

Other facts on Uganda:
-Avg. age is 15, with a life expectancy of 47
-80% of workforce is in agriculture
-40 different languages used, English being the official
-42% Catholic, 16% Muslim

Answered Prayers

After meeting with MTW in Atlanta back in December, Chris Goodman and I started praying for God to lead us to an opportunity this summer that would allow us to experience some type of church-planting and even mercy ministry. We really didn't have much going besides prayer itself, but God sovereignly used different people to connect us with Pastor Dave Eby and his work in Uganda. It so happens they're planning to work with two different church plants this summer, one being in the capital of Uganda and another in a rural village, and have invited us to serve in ways of evangelism, gathering locals for events and possibly even some medical ministry as well. We'll actually be there for one church's very first morning service! Basically, it's more than we asked for. And at this point, God has also brought together four additional teammates that will be journeying this summer with us: Adam Shields, Stephanie Jones, Sarah Autrey and Abby McIlvaine. We're very thankful for such a faithful team and looking forward to meeting together for our first time toward the end of this month.