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I arrived home safely yesterday late morning. I want to thank Bill Sobo for keeping up my blog while I was gone and for all of you who were praying for the trip. God answered your prayers on many different levels.

First, our flights went like clockwork. All of the flights were on time, including the flight from Kampala to Gulu, and our layovers in Amsterdam were only approximately 2 1/2 hours each. Second, the eight of us on the Vision trip bonded quickly and we got along well. Third, the World Vision rep from Kampala, Christine, was wonderful. She was thoughtful, kind, sharp, and truly a blessing--she traveled with us for the whole time that we were in Uganda. Fourth, the team did a lot of praying, a lot of laughing, and a lot of visiting various sites and projects. We really did care for one another and there was virtually no complaining. Fifth, I think that I found a potential project that would be a good fit for the church. The St. Thomas Moore Secondary School is only one of two secondary schools in the area. It was the only one that didn't close because of the war. I was impressed by the headmaster, Todo Alex [Ugandans put their surname first], and his vision for the school. They need a laboratory (science building) built in order to be accredited; they also need a library, a hostel to board girls, and a new latrines.

All of us on the Vision trip were impressed with the World Vision staff: they are sharp, love the people, and committed to the Jesus Creed (loving God and loving their neighbor). They always work with the local government and you can tell by the respect and the thankfulness that the local governments and the schools that we visited have for World Vision how appreciated their work is.

It is going to take me a while to unpack everything that I saw and experienced, but I am so thankful to God and to the church and to everyone who prayed for this trip--it exceeded my expectations which were high to begin with.