Safe Journey!

I am happy to be able to share our experiences so far in the Uganda-DR Congo border. There is no internet connection where we are, that is the reason why we were out of touch of the outside world temporarily.

The last Sabbath before we left for our mission trip, the Orlando Filipino SDA church had a special prayer session for us, led by Pr. King, and supported by the church members. It was such a moving and powerful moment to be surrounded by praying members. We felt empowered by the Holy Spirit to take on this trip with the theme "Crossing the Border". That Sabbath, many more donations poured in. In fact, even up to the last hour before I head to the airport, donations were still coming in. Praise the Lord indeed!

The three of us traveled on different vehicles to the airport. Joy and Rose arrived at the airport first and they decided to wait for me. When I got to the airport 10 minutes later, Joy and I decided to check in. Unfortunately, a very important document was missing. She contacted someone to bring that document to the airport. Our flight was at 2:00 pm, and at 1:30pm we were still waiting. Finally, Novem and I were asked to go ahead without Joy. As we go through security, we kept on looking back hoping for a miracle that Joy can still come with us. But, God had other plans. Our plane left and Joy was left behind.

Novem and I traveled from Orlando to Newark, then on to Brussels and then finally, after 26 hours, arrived Entebbe, Uganda. Back in the States, people were trying to find a way for Joy to continue her trip. At last, after so many phone calls, Joy was on her way via Dubai. Three days later, the three of us were happily reunited. Joy arrived Uganda at 3:00 pm Friday. We immediately boarded a van for a long night trip to the border because we had some speaking engagements for the Sabbath. We slept in a town near the border in some cottages (bahay kubo). As Novem described it, sleeping under the "kulambo"(mosquito net) with mosquitoes having a concert outside. Before we slept, we ate dinner at 1:30 in the morning, composed of fried tilapia.

The next morning, Sabbath, we continued to the border where I preached at Mpondwe SDA church. Immediately after that, we crossed the border to the Congo side to a town called Kasindi. There were a little bit of problem on Novem's visa so he was not able to go with us. At the border, we were met by a big group of Pathfinder welcoming us. It was a grand, colorful, 15 minute walk.

Thank God, for a safe trip so far!