[ This is the first of the series of posts made during a recent mission trip to Uganda, Africa. I am posting these in the Personal Commentary section so they will have a permanent home. The other posts will be added over the next several days. It was a remarkable trip for Jill and me and we wanted to maintain a record of what we did and saw. If you did not follow along with us as we were on the trip, I hope you will enjoy our journey with us now. ]

HOUSTON, TX – MARCH 9, 2012 – This first bit is going to be a little hectic. We’re taking the kids out of school on Friday to go to the lake, Cedar Creek Lake. My wife’s parents have a house there. It’s about 60 miles southeast of Dallas, and that’s where the kids will stay while we’re gone. They love it there. And what’s not to love – the lake, boats, golf carts, grandparents. Grandma and Pop Pop will probably even take them into Dallas for a couple of days to go shopping (Grandma loves to go shopping) and to the aquarium and wherever else they think of to go. You know, general good fun.

Jill and I, on the other hand, will be getting up before six on Saturday morning to leave by seven to get to the airport for the first leg of our flight that begins at 11:30 on Saturday morning and won’t end until 10:10 Sunday night in Entebbe, Uganda. We fly from Dallas to New Jersey, from New Jersey to London, and from London to Entebbe. We hope our bags make the same journey. There is supposed to be a van waiting to take us to The Haven, the hotel north of Jinja, Uganda about two and a half hours away. That puts us at our destination about 1 a.m. Sunday night/Monday morning. The hotel is on the Nile river, just upstream from it’s source at Lake Victoria. It is close to Mashah Village, the 40 acre property Elevare International has developed near the village of Wakisi. We will spend most of our time there, doing whatever God wants us to do for the people and the children there. Specifically, we will help with the building and opening of an extensive playground in the village for the orphans who live in Mashah Village and for all the children of the area.

And that is where the journey really lies.

Not that the preparations haven’t been a journey of their own. We were invited to go on the trip less than a month ago. Okay, we’re going. Now what? Who is going to take care of the kids? Who’s going to take care of the dogs? We have to get plane tickets, shots – and that’s no little thing. Immunizations for Yellow Fever, Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis, Menengitis, Polio, Tetnus, all brought in on a tray in their separate syringes and administered at one time. Oh, and the Malaria pills we will have to take every day we’re there and for a week after we get home. Then the packing. Getting the proper bags, adaptors so we can use our electronic devices, all the little accessories to keep the iPad running and making sure we can upload the photographs we take to this site.

It has been a little hectic, but it has gone smoothly, really. Perhaps it is just the first steps on a longer journey God has planned for us. So, we continue to pray that we will be cognizant of the plan God lays out before us and that He will reveal Himself to us and those we meet on this journey we are now beginning.

Find out more about what Elevare International is doing in Africa and around the world at
www.elevareinternational.com