Uganda Week 1

Here are a few glimpses of our first week en route to Kabale.  They only begin to tell the story of the fun, hard, draining, exciting, confusing, scary, tasty, icky, crazy, sobering, uplifting, challenging, faith-building time we're having.

Leslie's and my Dads -- such love we've received!

DFW Airport.  Our final farewell to parents/grandparents -- many tears!

Jesse and Leslie at Namirembe Guest House l in Kampala, our transition place.

Julia demonstrating our new way of bathing.

Georgia with Winnie, our  lovely new Ugandan friend

Outside the Cathedral atop Namirembe Hill

Namirembe Hill

I really should be sleeping, but a quick test of my new mobile modem (which I simply plug into the usb port of my laptop, and I'm connect to the internet) has led to extensive email checking, plus a wonderful Skype call with my parents -- and I'm sitting on a porch at the top of Namirembe Hill overlooking the lights of Kampala, the capital of Uganda!


Our first days here have been both wonderful and rough.  Jet lag is extremely painful for all of us -- the kids even woke the first day vomiting and barely able to get out of bed.  The stark differences and some harsh realities of life in Uganda have been difficult for us, even as we feel very grateful for being here, and are strongly aware of the Father's hand providing for us and carrying us through.


Overriding it all has been the amazing welcome we have received from our Ugandan friends.  I'll have to write more on this later, but we have been received like long lost and yearned for relatives, even by those who only heard of us a few days ago.  We would be in such a difficult, confusing place without these people!


Tomorrow we finish purchases (including buying a van in cash!), and we hope to be on the road to Kabale by Wednesday at the latest.

Here's a great snapshot Leslie wrote in an email earlier today.  I'm off to bed, and will share more soon:

I have been encouraged and amazed by the kids - they are bright and shiny and SUPER TROOPERS - what a gift!  They are carrying us along, not the other way around :0)  Can't wait to send some photos of these early days... imagine our family and the Morrows riding around the bumpy, dusty, diesel-filled, moped & pedestrian crowded streets of Uganda in the back of the ambulance they sent to collect us from the airport... this is how we are making our way in and around the city - no seatbelts (much less seats)... Julia presses her face against the windows and smiles and waves at all the vendors ("hawkers") who come to the window with green-skinned oranges and phone cards, belts, sunglasses, etc... they are shouting, "muzungu, muzungu!" at her... she is so happy with all the noise and excitement and says, "I ride in car!"  Georgia made fairy crowns for everyone yesterday out of long blades of grass and even put one on one of the women who works here in the guest house kitchen.  Jesse was sad when his Nintendo DS battery ran out and he couldn't stay plugged in to the Matrix!  But he's having fun exploring too... trying to catch lizards in empty water bottles - no luck so far.  Lucy is happy hanging out with her "bestie" Mallory.  We are hearing these funny monkey-sounding birds in the background all the time, trying the goat meat and matoke (mashed plantain), drinking spiced tea and coffee with hot milk smelling the smells of burnt trash - there's nothing quite like it!!!  Travis is very strange and must have some Ugandan blood in him b/c he likes the smell - go figure!  Last night was the first night the kids didn't wake at midnight... to their bodies, it is still mid-afternoon, so they are having trouble staying asleep even though they've been up all day here.  (we are 8 hrs ahead of TX time - so your noon is our 8pm)  Travis and I have had success taking the Melatonin - thanks M.E.  That's all from me for now... we will meet some folks at UCU tonight - looking forward to it... with love and thanks for each of you,
~ Leslie

On Our Way...

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"Mom, I want to stay one more week in Texas.  Please!"  This from Georgia, our oldest daughter, who is currently feeling the most sadness about leaving.  The answer, of course, is no.  The day has come!  What a mix of emotions we're all feeling, and at different times, and expressing them in different ways.  Excitement, fear, sadness, stress, gratefulness, confusion, weariness, hope....


We leave today, Monday the 30th, at 5:35 CST.  We arrive in England tomorrow morning at 8:35am their time.  We'll spend 12 hours in a day room outside Heathrow, unless we feel adventurous like our teammates and venture out into London.  I may even get a chance to see a former professor who was very influential in my life in seminary.  We leave England at about 9:30pm, and arrive in Kampala (Entebbe, actually) at about 7:30am their time.  We'll be greeted by some Ugandan friends there, and probably spend just under a week in the capital making necessary purchases and getting over jet lag.  We then make a rather harrying 8 hour drive down south of the equator, arriving at last at our new and long awaited home in Kabale!


As I write this, Leslie is finishing last minute packing, the kids are at a park with my parents, Leslie's parents are doing odd jobs around the home, and I'm feeling a bit shaky from my last double-tall-mocha from Starbucks mixed with the emotions of leaving.


What keeps reverberating in our hearts, however, are the many reminders of God's past faithfulness and the promise of his ongoing faithfulness carrying us through the long flights into the unknown of our future in Kabale.  What rest there is in knowing we are with Christ in God!  And there is a special awareness right now that it is only because of who Jesus is, and the great love of our Father for us, and the presence of the Spirit in our lives that any of this, all of this, is happening.


I've been spotty, of course, in the upkeep of this blog.  I'm not sure how long it will be before we have consistent internet access again, but once we do, the updates will be more consistent.


Pray for us as we go...for you are going with us!  You are with Christ, in God as well!  Read Colossians 3 again, drink it in, and pour it back out as intercession for us.

Countdown Near Completion

I keep waiting for a moment to write a decent blog post, and I'm realizing it's just not going to come!  We leave in 10 days for Uganda -- August 30, 2010.  Almost exactly 5 years later than my original plan.  (Leslie was far more realistic, but this has taken longer than even she had anticipated.)   But we're going!  In God's timing, and through the love of God's people, and with the clear evidence of his guiding, providing, protecting hand on our lives.

Here's a snippet from our forthcoming newsletter that describes it well:

We thought we'd be in our Texas transitional home, "two, maybe four months at the longest...!"    Eight months later we see how the Lord's purposes prevail past our plans, and those purposes are so good.  During this time, our marriage has strengthened, our team has had weekly bonding in prayer, planning, and playing, we’ve received exceptional cross-cultural preparation, and our kids have grown in strength of body and spirit while living in their grandparents’ home.

As we begin the countdown for departure to Uganda (we fly out August 30th), we are filled with excitement and awe at what the Lord has done (with the occasional moment of panic thrown in for good measure).  Our hearts rejoice in the Lord and His lovingkindness towards us.  We have put our hope in Him, and He has been our help and our shield.  He has proven faithful to provide for our every need.  We are so humbled and grateful!  We are stepping out towards Uganda with stronger faith and love for each other and for those whom we will be blessed to know in Kabale.

Pray for us in these final days that we will leave well and land well!

Here are a few photos from the summer just for fun.

Kids atop boxes ready for shipping to Uganda

Jesse's 10th B-Day: Daring the Fireball

We did it!  (I, personally, was scared...er...spitless.)

Tea Party

Georgia's 7th B-Day party -- Making Jewelry

We keep trying for a family photo....

Lucy & Julia looking lovely

Knowing What We Need

It has been almost three weeks since we completed our training at Mission Training International.  Our time there was, is, and will continue to be of inestimable value.  It was so significant, in fact, that I want to share here several insights we gained.  "Insights" actually is too small and simple a word for what we received.  You'll understand more as we share more on this blog.  To begin with, however, I'm simply going to post here Leslie's reply to an email from a friend who inquired about our time at MTI:

I'll respond on my part about the training since I'm on the computer first today, and let Travis add on his reflections later....   I think the main thing that challenged and confirmed that we were in the right place at the right time at MTI in CO was that they said that God is more interested in our character -- in each of us looking like His Son Jesus -- than in anything that we could "do" for him.... So, if we are not loving our spouse and our children and if we are not knowing the presence and rest and mercy of Jesus in our own life, then we could not possibly show God's love to others. 

Also in studying scripture, just the acknowledgement that God is God -- there is no formula for life like, "If I do this, or if this happens here, then God will...." And also that God is Good -- there is nothing good in us, and only God has the power to restore and refresh us and only He can bring life from death -- we cannot do any of those things, so we should not strive for them, just lean on Jesus and trust Him because He knows us best and knows what we need in our deepest being -- a lot of times we do not even know what we need ourselves.  So, there you have it, deep thoughts by Leslie Hines :0)

Here's a quick update as well:

We returned to my parents' place after MTI, and enjoyed a week with both my brothers present.  A particular joy was getting to meet my younger brother's girlfriend, who visited us from Ohio.  A rare treasure of a woman.

After the clan's departure, we've settled into a routine where Leslie and I alternate days in taking care of kids and working on our departure for Uganda.  We've developed a loose schedule for the kids, their priorities being riding horses in the morning and swimming in the afternoon.  (My parents have two neighbors, each about 60 seconds away by car, who have given us unrestricted use of their beautiful pools!)  We're also focusing on establishing patterns of living that the Father communicated to us while we were at MTI.  Of utmost importance to us right now are patterns of communication, of rest, of play, and of a godly view of work.

We're aiming for the end of the summer for Uganda.  We're excited because this at last seems very doable.  We're slugging through the details of leaving, as well as pushing to raise a final few hundred dollars of monthly support.  (If you're one who would like to join us in this way, email me at hinesfamily@gmail.com.) 

Here are some fun shots from our return trip from Colorado back to Texas: