Day One of training camp...Heather arrived from Blountsville, AL and I was anxious to meet my Alabama soul sister. We discovered early that we were living in a small world when we found out she had dated one of my cousins. Couldn't wait to meet the girl that was so excited about going to Uganda that it oozed over the phone whenever we talked. She arrived in Atlanta and was meeting with SaraBeth to pay off her trip and take care of all her paperwork. I need to preface that Heather got to expereience the Lord's faithfulness in raising money for the trip because she had her trip paid for and then almost double. The Sunday before coming to ATL her church took up a love offering and so she had an envelope with cash in it to turn in...when it came time to give the money to SaraBeth...she couldn't find it. I watched that girl tear her bag to pieces looking for the envelope. I knew at that moment that #1 I loved her already and #2 I needed to keep up with her passport if I was going to take this kid to Uganda and bring her back. Luckily I took a tour through her bag and found the envelope tucked safely in her bible.
Day Two of training camp...discovering that none of us had soccer skills. All I knew when I signed up to lead the trip was that we were going to Africa and that we would be working with orphans...all the other details were just fine print. I discovered when arriving in ATL that we were a soccer team, oh glory. Our first practice was a trip to say the least. Not only were we all exhausted after 30 minutes of play, we didn't know jack about soccer and we were about to head to the land of futbol. The Lord has a sense of humor. Here are just a few pics of our first soccer practice. The boys taught the three girls how to head the ball and let me be the first to tell you that if you don't hit the ball in just the right spot on your head you will have a killer headache.
After soccer practice came our next challenge....balloon animals. Who knew those things were so hard to blow up and even harder to make into something recognizable? We learned really quick that Jimmy would not be the balloon animal MVP. SaraBeth had blown up about 30 balloons to teach us how to make swords, hats and dogs...and in a matter of 5 minutes our boy Jimmy had popped 20 of them trying to make a dog. I saw yet another glimpse of the Lord's faithfulness becuase I was able to make balloon animals like a champ...no soccer for me! Before we left Atlanta I learned how to make a dog, a lion, a teddy bear, a sword, a hat and how to make Jonah in the whale...impressive, huh? Here are just a few pics of our balloon making lesson:
I knew it was going to be a great trip from the beginning because we laughed a lot together and genuinely enjoyed one another's company. Who knew that training camp was just a foretast of the laughs we would share.
Day one of travel...we went to check in at the ATL airport and Jimmy and Matt didn't show up on my e-ticket. Oops! I got the girls checked in and then began the process of trying to get the boys checked in. Matt's check in went smoothly and off he went. Then there was Jimmy...oh Jimmy. I will have to upload the pic from my iphone soon but Jimmy was being checked in by a lady who spoke very little English and I knew at that moment we were in trouble. When she took the two bags Jimmy was checking in and put them on the belt I knew in my gut we wouldn't be seeing those bags again. I asked her four different times if they were checked to Entebbe, Uganda (our final destination) and she told me yes. NOT SO MUCH! When we arrived in Uganda those two bags were no where to be found. The girls were relieved to know that the two bags Jimmy checked in were his and Matt's. We had to go through an hour long process of filing a claims report and of course the lady didn't give Jimmy a baggage claim ticket. It wasn't until four days later that we finally got the boys luggage. In the mean time we did laundry in a bucket because I had packed detergent. The girls loaned the boys some atheletic shorts...which was funny because they were sporting the daisy dukes on the soccer field. And poor Matt didn't pack any clothes in his carry-on despite his mom's instructions so he had to wash his undies every night...Jimmy had a spare. We loaned the boys shampoo and soap and Jimmy even used my deodorant. Talk about getting close really quick?!?! Needless to say the boys were great sports about the whole thing and were relieved when their luggage finally arrived after spending days in Amsterdam. Here are just a few pics of the boys in Heather's shorts:
I think in the Message the verse might would read..."greater love has no Heather...than to let Jimmy wear two pair of her shorts, one as shorts and the other as underwear." What a trooper!
And then there were CANKLES...yep, that's right. After two days of air travel four of the five of us discovered we no longer had ankles. Needless to say Matt got some laughs at our expense and eagerly volunteered to take a picture. I'll take cankles over wearing a bright green shirt for five days in a row any day. (sorry that was probably too soon.)
...more stories to come.
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