Sunrise on our first morning in Uganda: The heavens declare the glory of God.

We've been here for a day and a half and have just successfully gotten on email. :) We are so thankful to be here safely and well. The Lord blessed us so specifically on our trip, which commenced in San Francisco after our five-day ministry tour in Sacramento, between Thrive and BOSS (Bayside of South Sacramento Church). We had a 4 a.m. reveille on Tuesday, the cinco de Mayo, for our 6 a.m. flight from San Francisco to Boston. I wrote thank you's to our H.I.M. donors furiously during the entire flight so we could mail them from Boston—and was successful. :)

Julie Macrae met us at the airport with our bags for Uganda, which we sorted in part on the curb in front of Terminal E. It was a scene, but we did it. Then inside to adjust the weight and check in, only to find that NWA had moved to terminal A several weeks earlier. :) Thankfully, we had lots of time, relatively speaking, so off we went, pushing two very full carts to terminal A. We made it and got checked in.

The next thing that happened can only be attributed to the hand of God. The flight was oversold and we were not seated together. We requested two side seats together and were put on “the list.” Long story short . . . we not only got seats together, but we got put in first class! Can you imagine how wonderful that was at that point? We had six and a half hours of pure airplane bliss: great food, a funny and sad movie “Marley and Me” (which made me cry myself to sleep), and four uninterrupted hours of sleep. Just what we needed! Off the plane in Amsterdam for 3 hours, we walked four miles and did some computer works, and then off to Entebbe we went. The KLM flight was great and coach was actually “spacious.” No complaints.

Arriving at the Nortons' house on Wednesday night with 280 pounds of luggage.

We arrived at 8 p.m. Wednesday night and were picked up by John Norton and his driver, Adolf. We quickly got our luggage, paid for the Visas, and went through customs. We were back to the Nortons’ place by 9, where Cindy served us a light supper of soup, bread, and fresh pineapple. Just what we needed!

John and Cindy Norton, preparing our light supper. What amazing people!

We chatted and chatted and finally retired around 11 to our mosquito-netted bed. :) We are in Africa.

Up very early to be on the road at 6:30 a.m. to speak to Parliament. A thunderstorm wakened us and a gorgeous sunrise greeted us as we drove to the Parliament Building. You know how I love sunrises . . . it felt like another gift.

Hon. Benson, Dr. Lazarus (director of Life Ministries, Campus Crusade), John and Cindy, Sam (FOCUS director, IVCF Uganda), and Dr. Nathan.

Our time at the Parliament went really well. Our inadequacies felt huge, but God was “huge-er” and we felt that we felt connected right away. Following our talk, we had a great period of Q and A and were very impressed with the questions posed. Each question reminded us that regardless of where we are in the world, people struggle with so many of the same issues when it comes to marriage and family. Our reception was very warm and we began falling in love with these people.

Julie, Derek, and Cindy at Nortons' dining table.

Julie arrived later that day and wakened us from a nap. :) Greatest alarm clock ever!! We had the best time reconnecting with her and getting to know Derek Johnson, Executive Director of The Cure Hospital, Mbale. He and Julie have become very good friends and we really enjoyed him. He ended up staying until we all went to bed. Meanwhile, Paul and John were off at the opening of “Men of Honor,” a men's conference, the first of its kind here. They felt they had a great evening.

Paul is now preparing to speak tonight at night #2 of Men of Honor. We're catching up on email and pinching ourselves to make sure we're here. Thanks for your prayers on our behalf. We feel them.