Speedbumps, joy and provision

Greetings All!

Today is day our 3rd full day here in Uganda and so far, it has been incredible. There's so much to tell, so much to describe that I'd never be able to do it justice in the 23 minutes I have left to use the Internet. I'm currently in the "Internet cafe" in the "hotel" we're staying in...and even the keyboard is a bit different so just excuse any typos that may occur. And we have to pay for the use of it, so this will be shorter than I'd like it to be.

Our flight here went smoothly, we were met at the airport in Entebbe, Uganda by our taxi driver, Lawrence. We knew it was him due to the sign he was holding with our names on it. Never had that experience before!

We stayed overnight in a cute little guest house for AIM...sort of like a little cottage. We only had a few hours sleep and then we were off on a 5 1/2 hr interesting bus trip to Gulu. Interesting due to the 15-20 minutes of speed bumps placed every 30 feet or so on the road for a section of the trip. Why you ask? Well, we certainly had that question as well. Turns out they were placed intentionally when the road was built to preserve the road until the inspectors inspected the road and deemed it well done so the workers could get paid. Now they are slowly removing all the bumps....but a nice long stretch still remains. Not so much looking forward to that on the way home!

We arrived in Gulu where we were taken the safe house for the Village of Hope. We were greeted by 19 beautiful children who sang and danced for us for a good 1/2 hr or so when we arrived. The joy on their faces was incredible! And to think these are all orphans who had been previously abducted and forced to do horrendous unspeakable things. The joy they had definitely was the joy of the Lord as it has transformed them in amazing ways.

I wish i could tell you more, but the time is short. We've experienced so much serving (on our behalf), so much welcoming by everyone we've met, we feel like we're doing all the receiving and barely any serving! The children have captured my heart like no other. Can't wait to show you pictures! I'll upload them next week when we are in Sudan if I can. For now, know that we are safe, God has provided abundantly more than we could have imagined, and we are learning a ton!

Thanks for you prayers and we continued to seek your intercession on our behalf, especially for energy, strength and focus. (apparently there's a dance club (or at least it seems like it) just next door which plays music till the wee hours of the morning, and there's a rooster that likes to wake up in the alley right outside my window (no alarm clock needed here!) so sleep is in short supply). But God has been so good- I've had much more energy and focus than I should have for the wee bit of sleep I've gotten, and so a big YAY GOD for that!

Love you all!
Tanya