My night on October 6th ended with a run to Target, some last minute conversations with people I'd be meeting up with in either Detroit or Amsterdam, and spending some good time with my wife and kids. Then I started the long journey to Uganda on Tuesday morning with a drive to the Denver airport.
One of my favorite parts of Vision Trips is knowing that people who show up as strangers in an international airport end up being great friends 10 days later. I met up with Jim Pagan, Pastor of Discipleship and Missions at Central Baptist Church in Sanford, Florida, as well as his daughter, Meredith, and one of the young men in Central Baptist's youth group, Bobby (an up-and-coming filmmaker! stay tuned for pics and videos from the trip in the coming weeks). I also met Christine there. She got on the trip roster at the last minute. Her story and role on the trip is unique. She lives in Ventura County, CA and is a recent empty-nester. She's along to discern what the next decades of her life will bring. We boarded and took the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. The plane was smaller than the one I took from Denver to Detroit. It was a bit too cozy for a Trans-Atlantic flight. I was sitting next to a guy built like a left tackle named Bob. He was on his first trip to Uganda - going with his pastor and other men from his church in Flagstaff, Arizona. We chatted for a good bit of the trip. I made some off-hand comment about the need for chiropractors and massage therapists on international flights. Turns out he's a chiropractor and he gave me a neck adjustment somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.
In Amsterdam, we met more members of our team. Pastor Jon Dunwell from Westwood Church in Orlando, FL, and two from his church - Greg and Brandi McElheny. We also met Jamin Stinziano from Summit Church in Naples, FL. These two churches linked up with HopeChest originally through Tom Davis's book, Red Letters, and then connected with the folks at Red Letters Campaign. Of all these travelers, I had only met Jim Pagan - 2 years earlier. Brandi and I had spent a lot of time on the phone and corresponding via email for the last few months, but most of us were meeting for the first time. We were starting the trip of a lifetime together.
We landed at Entebbe, the only international airport in Uganda, at about 830pm on Wednesday. With no complications we went through immigration, gathered our luggage, and went through the customs 'green line.' Now I had to find our host - another person I had never met. Luckily, the group of men holding a sign that said 'Children's HopeChest' gave them away - even though my brain and senses were suffering from 24 hours of non-stop travel. We met Joseph Elotu, our host for the trip, and made our way to the bus. After the hour drive to Hotel Africana in Kampala, several of us went to the hotel restaurant for a late night snack of chips (french fries) and Fanta, then to bed.
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