Uganda 2026 Day 3

Uganda 2026 Day 3

We’re here! We landed in Uganda! I was probably the fourth person to leave with my luggage. Thankfully, my bags went through the scanners and I got out easy. I found Lolita on my way out of the airport. She had arrived on another plane not long before. She stayed inside for the a/c a little longer, but I told her I was on a mission to see my boys and I continued on. When I turned back to the doors to walk out, the first two people I saw were the John Bascos. If I was not pushing a cart with three suitcases, a carry on bag, and wearing a big purse, I may have ran to them. Of course I walked faster and could not stop smiling. It was so good to see them and get my first Ugandan hugs of the year from them. I was not sure if John Bosco Lokut was going to stop hugging me or if he  would wait until the next person came out. Haha! These two young men are so amazing! I am so happy God put me in their lives through sponsoring Lokut. I enjoy talking to them (and others) when I am home. They encourage me in my faith and life through what they do and through our conversations. I know I can go to them anytime I need prayer and they will pray. When Lolita and Tony came out a few short minutes later, we went looking for the coster, van and truck. They had to come and park again, so I took John Bosco Lokoru back to the entrance to watch for more of the team. While we waited the coster, van  and truck parked and I could see where they were. The guys that came to pick us up slowly started to come over and greet me while we waited. Papa Moses was so funny! He gave me a hug as big and long as Lokut, but he also lifted me. He has been such a blessing to everyone and sent by God to help how he does. He is in charge of the freedom projectz students. Papa Moses has become a mentor to each of them and helps teach them many life lessons though being the person that brings them their finances. He is like a second father for them and a good example of a husband and born again for each of the students. He helps mentor and counsel them through many life things including using finances wise, saving money, faith and many other things. I have known Papa Moses since my first Uganda trip in 2014. Although, back then we just called him Moses. There were so many people there. Another Moses, Paul, both Sams, Martin, and a couple others that I can’t remember right now. It felt so good to be back! The rest of the team came out slowly as many bags were pulled to be inspected. This year none of our bags were taken. God is so good to provide enough happening for them to not take anything! I rode in the coster on the way to the guest house. I was thinking how natural it felt to be in the coster in Uganda. It was also weird because it felt so long since I had been here, but it also felt like it was last week. The ride was good and fast. When we arrived at the guest house, we unloaded all the luggage. Everyone grabbed their personal bags and put the team bags in the kitchen. Then JoAnne gave us some general information before telling us our rooms and roommates. Because our plane came in at midnight, we were able to shower and then sleep for a few hours. Because I slept on the plane a little and I was so happy to be here, it took some time for my brain to settle down and let me feel sleepy. The sleep was very restless. I rolled over a lot, but I did sleep some. 

When we woke up Mama Esther had a breakfast of her famous cinnamon rolls, hard boiled eggs, and fruit ready. After breakfast we did our morning meeting and worship. This is one of my favorite parts of each day. When we finished, it was all hands on deck. JoAnne put me in charge of the feminine hygiene kits and I asked Anna to help. She is the youngest team member at 16 years old. Anna is such a sweetheart. She wanted to go on a mission trip for her 16th birthday instead of having a party. I had her help me add soap to all the homemade hygiene kits that were made by ladies in my church. There were a few others bought online that we added underwear and soap to also. Kate ended up helping us too. I was thankful because I ended up struggling to find the other full bag of kits. Her helping made it so Anna was not doing all the work. When we completed the kits, we started helping make the mommy and me packets. Each is a ziplock bag with salt and sugar (for hydration help), antibiotics, bandaids and soap. They had started these out back, but at one point we decided to move to the outside, covered dining area so we would not get rained on if it started.   I was so excited and kinda shocked to see James when I turned around at one point. He helped us move everything and then helped make the packets. By moving, I think we added one or two more helpers. This project always takes a long time. We made over 1,000 bags. When we were almost done, I pulled all the supplies out of the bags so they were easier to find and get to people when they needed more. I noticed our salt was a way bigger stack than sugar. That is when we realized we were doing a 1-1 ration and it should have been 2-1 salt/ sugar ration. Algena and I took the completed packets and added more salt to each. Thankfully, Abigail came to help and then Mark, Connor, Hector, and Kate came too. It made the process much faster. Some of us made piles of salt packets while the others opened the ziplock bags, added the salt and closed the bags. Each kit has 8 salt, 4 sugar, 2 soap, 2 antibiotics, and 3 bandaids. When we were finishing cleaning, I told JoAnne it was crazy we completed something in one day that usually takes 2-3. We did have a break in between all the packing where we had a lunch of soup (chicken, carrots, and potatoes) with rolls. Dinner was not long after we completed all the packing of supplies. We had spaghetti, carrots and green beans, and rolls. Mark washed dishes and I dried them when we were done eating. It was fun to have time with James and to sass him while we were working on the packets. Anna quickly learned she could sass him also. It was great and provided so many laughs!

Everyone was so sleepy, but we had to get our bags ready to be loaded for the Ugandans to take to clinic for us. They drive all our supplies there and we come the next day.  When I had my small bag packed for keeping with me and my main bag packed and loaded on the truck, I sat in the living room. Dr Brian was there waiting for Dr Richard to arrive and Linda was there waiting for Ivan to arrive and drive her home. Lolita and John Bosco also came in and we had so many laughs together. We had fun conversation and more serious about relationships. Linda was the last to leave around 10/10:30, other than John Bosco. Him and I stayed up talking until midnight. We had a good time catching up, talking about life, taking time off social media, the clinic and friendships. He is such an amazing and intelligent young man. I really hope to be more like him someday in how his relationship with God is. Right before midnight I told him I needed to go to sleep soon. The Ugandans were to leave at 3a with everything and I wanted to be awake to say goodbye.