Tusangaire (I hope I spelled that right)

The 2006 Uganda Team had our final meeting before the trip. We spent Friday and part of Saturday at David Rotberg's home (which was beautiful), and really had a lot of info thrown our way. On Saturday we participated in the Global Night Commute, which was discussed on Oprah, and we had 3x the number of expected attendees. I have had the priveledge to get to know the Bogels while they have been on furlow. They are missionaries who are currently working in Jinja, and they are the couple that Danny and I will be staying with. In short, they are wonderful people and without question are a blessing to their team and the people of Uganda. It appears I will have the opportunity to travel with Spencer into a few villages to observe his village ministries, and I can't wait.

Please continue to pray for God's blessings on our team, our travel, our families while we are away, the missionaries currently engaged in full-time mission work there, and our Ugnadan brothers and sisters. I know it seems like a lot to remember to pray for, so write it down. I look forward to sharing more entries in the near future.

Time is continuing to fly by, and I'm beginning to wonder what parts of this trip will impact me the most. I have gone through all the immunizations I need (except Malaria) and so no more pokes with the needles. I ended up getting a grand total of seven shots and three prescriptions to make sure I don't catch anything major. The team continues to meet, and discuss important topics.

One question I have encountered a few times revolves around the safety and instability of the region. Hopefully this post can address those concerns, but if not give me a call or instant message me because I love talking about some of the problems of the area. I can assure you the areas of Uganda we will be visiting are safe and as stable as a region in Africa can be. There were some problems that arose during the past year because of the recent elections. Anytime you mix a struggling economy, recent civil wars, tribes, health issues such as AIDS, and a general poverty with elections you are going to run into some tension; but those elections are now over. The second danger of Uganda is located in Northern Uganda, and is very disturbing. I probably will not go into full detail in this post but only give a brief summary of what is going on there. Again, if you want to know more please contact me, and I would love to tell you more. There is a group of militant gorillas who live in Southern Sudan who invade Northern Ugandan villages. The group is called the LRA. Once in the village they commit unspeakable crimes against the Acholi people and after killing the adults, they kidnap the children. The children are then forced into slave labor as military fighters, sex slaves for the LRA members, or sold into different forms of slavery around the world. It is considered,by one member of the United Nations, as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world yet the Untied Nations and most contries governments remain indifferent. If you want to find out more about this crisis, I would recommend visiting this site: www.invisiblechildren.com They don't have a lot of information on the website, but they do provide the opportunity to buy the Invisible Children documentary which is eye opening, and again my offer to explain things also stands. May God Bless.

Time is really flying by right now. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but it is what it its I guess. I am very excited to report that through the generosity of people, all of the remaining 15 interns have made it through the first financial deadline. So, people are beginning to relax and and allow themselves to excited a bit more. We have started to work on some of the basics of the language, which I think is loads of fun. You may be thinking that language learning = fun means that Scott = dork but you would be wrong. One of my character flaws is the ability to make fun of everything. So, learning new words and changing the pronunciations and sounding stupid is great fun to me now, but it probably won't be as much fun when the Ugandans stone me for butchering there language. Who knows maybe I'll get so good at it that I can hit you with a little Lasoga someday. The excitement for the trip is building.

So, it has been awhile since my last entry and its long overdue. We, as a team, are still in the financial discussion phase of this trip. I am happy to report that although more is still needed, our financial outlook is bright. I was warned that this trip will challenge my ways of thinking, I just didn't know it would be this challenging this early. I have found that asking for financial support for something such as this can really affect how you see other people, and how very difficult it is to not become skeptical of people who have been such dear friends and supporters for so many years. This process has caused me to unfairly questioned the sincerity, and it is something that I am wrestling with. The next task we have as sponsors is the assigning of students to their specific Ugandan city and mission mentor.

I feel like such a rookie in this whole thing. I have never been outside of the US (except for a brief drive to Canada as a kid, just to say we were out of the country, which totally does not count). I have just submitted my application for a passport, and will be needing to get that so I can turn around and get my visa (not a credit card). I have also had to get shots. I don't mind needles that much so it isn't really that bad. The only one that I didn't like was the Tetanus which made my arm hurt for a few days. I have gone through two series of Hepatitis A and B shots, my MMR, and Tetanus. All that is left is one more Hep A and B, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, and whatever Malaria stuff I choose. The sobering part of all of this is that despite all of the shots, I am still probably going to get the runs.

Our team has lost two team members already, and potentially a thrid soon. I ask for prayers for the thrid, her name is Jessica. Jessica would like to go, but her mom has recently had a relapse of cancer and is not doing well, so Jessica is very torn as to weather she should stay here and continue to take care of her mom, or go to Africa for six weeks. Its a tough decision, and I'm sure she would welcome your prayers.

That is about it for now. I will try to continue to keep you all up-to-date as the time for our journey draws near. God Bless!