This is what I will be up to from Nov 6-18 (I cut and pasted from my emailed itinerary):
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 6TH: Leave the US for Uganda. Be at the airport at least two hours early. Be sure to have your passports and airline tickets! We are on our way!
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7TH : Arrive in Entebbe, Uganda, spend the night near the airport.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8TH: Leave Entebbe for Fort Portal. Fort Portal is a beautiful place about 5 hours west of Kampala. It is near the Renzawori Mountains where the evenings are cool. This is where we are partnering with Outreach for Africa and Sunrise House. We will visit some of our fifty orphans at the Sunrise house. We will also spend some time in the OTA medical clinic and visit their school.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9TH: Breakfast in hotel. We will be leaving early for our safari at the Queen Elizabeth National Game Park. It is about 80 Kilometers away. We hope to see herds of elephants, hippos, crocodiles, and if we are really lucky we may see lions!
MONDAY NOVEMBER 10TH: Today will be a long drive to Tororo so we will be up early to make the trip to Eastern Uganda. The excitement will build as we near our home for the next days! Those who will be working at the Hope Festival on Tuesday will meet briefly at the hotel in the evening. We will discuss the plans and expectations for our day with the children and women we are serving.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11TH: Breakfast in hotel @ 7AM. Our family time will begin at 8AM each morning. This is a time to reflect on what we are experiencing and also to learn of what to expect that day. Those working the Hope Festival will leave the hotel by 7:45AM and will have a short time of devotion with the leaders of Smile Africa. We will use travel time to discuss announcements, etc.
The Hope Festival begins today with the women as well as the VBS with the Karamojong children.
For those not involved in the festival Tom will give a tour of the main site of True Vine Team Ministry. This is where we have built a hospital, church, primary school, boarding cottages & guest house.
We would love for each team member to experience feeding our 420+ Karamojong children—this opportunity will be available each day.
Elizabeth will be doing an outreach with the orphans each day. You will need to check with her as to her day’s itinerary.
A paint crew will be going out each day sprucing up buildings.
A pastor’s seminar will be held at True Vine and the men who want to speak/participate will attend.
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 12TH: The festival with the women and VBS continues.
Elizabeth will do an orphan outreach.
A paint/work crew will travel to Sibanga—the village sponsored by CCOJ. For those working the festival there will be another opportunity to see Sibanga on Saturday.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 13TH: This will be the final day of the Hope Festival for the women and VBS for the karamojong children.
Elizabeth will be doing an outreach in Bupoto—another sponsored village. There will also be a dedication/celebration of this village.
The pastor’s conference continues at True Vine.
The paint/fix-up crew will be assigned a location for today.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14TH: Today will be the men’s conference at Smile Africa. The men will arrive for a time of worship and men from our team will team up with a Ugandan pastor or leader to teach on your chosen topic. The attendees will be broken into groups for the lessons. Every 30 minutes or so the group leaders will rotate to another group so each man will have the opportunity to hear all the lessons being presented. They will be gifted with neckties brought by us.
There will be an orphan outreach with Elizabeth.
The work crew will continue.
Today would be a good day to get done what you have wanted to do all week!
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15TH: How about climbing a mountain? Those who are interested will meet our hosts at 7AM at hotel lobby for a climb up the rock
You will have the opportunity to experience a Ugandan wedding—some of you have asked about bringing a wedding gift—you can or we will pass a card around and those who want to contribute can.
CCOJ members may want to travel to Sibanga today as there will be a celebration to dedicate the village.
Elizabeth will do a final orphan outreach.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 16TH: Breakfast in Hotel. Family time. This is our last Sunday in Africa. There is an option to visit the True Vine Church and see the orphan choir sing along with experiencing a real African worship service on our way out of town. We will make a stop at the Nile River for some shopping and an option to take a short boat ride on the Nile. On our way to the airport we will stop for chicken or beef on a stick! Then we will make our way to the Entebbe airport where we are take our evening flight out to Amsterdam.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 17TH: Arriving in Amsterdam. Connecting to our various flights. Arriving USA on same day!
