Our Uganda adventure began in Cincinnati one day early and eight tickets short. When we arrived at the Delta ticket counter ready for our new flight schedule we immediately received two unwelcome items of news. First, the itinerary with which Ethiopia Airlines replaced our original itinerary with was not “active,” AND second the Delta flight we were supposed to take to Dulles airport had been cancelled. Rather than a direct flight to the Washington D.C. area, our route would be Cincinnati to Detroit (layover) and then to Dulles. Our new arrival time would be four hours later than planned.

We then stood at the ticket counter for a full 65 minutes while new tickets and a new itinerary were created. Even though our new flight was to leave 30 minutes after our original flight, it took so long to not solve our itinerary problem that we literally had to run to catch our flight. At least that is what we were told. Although the very pleasant ticket agent told us the Detroit flight was on time, our exasperated group arrived at the gate a full hour before the late plane was to leave the airport. We had plenty of time to cool off, I suppose.

Detroit was uneventful. We ate courtesy of Delta airlines and took off late from there as well. When we retrieved our luggage from the Dulles baggage carousel, we went out into the midnight wind and rain to wait for the promised hotel shuttle. Lest it seem like a complaint, I will only say it took about 40 minutes to get a shuttle that would deliver us to the hotel about one mile away. We were to arrive at our overnight lodging about 8pm Wednesday night, we arrived 1am Thursday morning.

We agreed that showing up at Dulles airport well ahead of the required two-hour-prior international check-in time would be a good idea. It was. Ethiopia Airlines did not reissue our tickets even though the international desk agent for Delta spent an hour on the phone with them “fixing the problem” not more than sixteen hours prior. The lovely Ethiopian Airlines ticket agent assured me it was no problem, instructed me to put our 8 pieces of luggage out of the way and to take a seat across the terminal. One hour later, we finally had our tickets in hand.

The flight from there to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was good. The Addis airport is something akin to a Greyhound bus station. If you have never been to a Greyhound bus station, then I don’t know exactly what to compare the experience. Suffice it to say, it was a little confusing, but we moved from one place to another via overpopulated people movers (buses) and found our way to our connecting flight to Entebbe, Uganda.

We arrived at Entebbe, filled out the immigration forms, retrieved ALL our luggage (Praise God from whom all blessings flow…praise him all creatures here below…) We exited the airport and our Ugandan connection was not present. I exchanged some dollars for shillings, purchased a mobile SIM card and minutes and phoned our contact. He had just arrived. His vehicle had been involved in an accident on the way to retrieve us from the airport so he was a few minutes delayed. [By the way, it cost me $13USD to purchase access to the local wireless service and to charge my phone with enough credit to last me most of the week we will be in Uganda]

We travelled to our guest house, took long overdue showers (it had been 20 hours since our last blessed soap and water) and went to dinner with our hosts.

We normally allow our missionary hosts to choose where to eat so we ended going to an Indian restaurant called “Sizzler” where we listened to Phil Collins playing on the radio. It was truly a multicultural experience.

I will post pictures as I am able, our access is very limited to the internet, but I am grateful to be able to update at least periodically.

Today we go to work in the one of the slums of Kampala, sharing Jesus’ love with whoever will listen. Looking forward to what God has in store.