Richard is an easy going guy, who is very attentive to all people. The very first night in Dubai wasn't a night that we talked a lot, but I was thankful to be his roommate. Why? He prayed aloud for us that night. He wasn't specifically praying about the trip, but for us to bond together as roommates and eventually lifelong friends. I remember that and it touched me in a way that I will never forget it. He is a stud that's for sure. Anyway as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light bulb, but the problem was I only got a few hours of sleep since we got up at 5 am the next morning because we needed to have enough time in order to catch our flight to Entebbe, Uganda. So, we headed back to the awe momentous Dubai airport, which is an amazing man made masterpiece in itself. And, as we were making our way to the gate, I was talking with Debbie M. and I told her that I was willing to give my life for the Gospel if necessary. If it came to that point, I would die for the sake of the Gospel. That is how much Jesus means to me. I don't really care how it happens or what happens. All I know is that I will be absent from this body and present with the Lord, which is my biggest dream ever. My biggest dream ever will ultimately become my reality and I can't wait to see my Jesus. One of my favorite songs is written by Jeremy Camp and it is called "There Will Be A Day". And some of these lyrics have hit me hard like a ton of bricks. Read them and let them saturate your soul..... "I try to hold on to this world with everything I have. But I feel the weight of what it brings and the hurt that it tries to grab. The many trials that seem to never end, His Word declares this truth, that we will enter in this rest with wonders anew. But I hold onto this hope and the promise that He brings. There will be a place with no more suffering. There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears. There will be a day when the burdens of this place will be no more, we'll see Jesus face to face. But until that day, we'll hold onto you always." These lyrics speak for themselves. We are not of this world and we are waiting anxiously and patiently for our King to take us Home to be with Him. And, if it was going to happen to me on the trip, there is no other beautiful way I would rather go than to lay down my life for my king on a missions trip. How appropriate!!! But, that did not happen and I am still here. I still have unfinished business in service to my King to attend to. It is no greater honor.
Anyway sorry for the rambling tangent. Where was I? Oh yeah, we are in the Dubai airport about to hop on the plane to Entebbe. So, we hopped on the plane. I was still thinking about virtually dying for Christ and reading this book Witness the Passion all at the same time. If you have never read that book, it goes into the horrors of Christ on the Cross from the eyewitness viewpoints of many people who were there to experience it from a distance or from afar. Pretty good book. Anyway, I was sitting on the plane next to Janice, my airplane buddy and it happened to be her birthday as well, for the entire four and half hour plane flight. And before we knew it, we landed in Entebbe, Uganda at around 1 pm Ugandan time ready to serve the Lord, which is about 10 hours ahead PT. Once we stepped out of the plane, it felt like Palm Springs, CA in the summer only with much more added humidity. It was hot, but thankfully we made it through customs with no problems and picked up our luggage from the baggage claim. And then, we headed toward the bus, the same 'ole bus that would be our one and only transportation source for the next two weeks--- a bus that at least did have air conditioning. Well, not very good air conditioning, but good enough to carry us through until the end of the trip......
Showing posts with label Uganda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uganda. Show all posts
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Uganda: Overnite in Dubai
When we landed in Dubai, I was overjoyed and dead tired, but in stunned amazement when I stepped out to catch my first glimpse of the airport. If not the fanciest airport in the world, it is up there among the fanciest. Everywhere you look this airport has it all.... rolex clocks, granite floors and walls, silver chrome pillars, etc. It is a more modern 21st century airport, but very fancy. Why they chose to spend so much money into building this airport? I have no idea. Though, it goes to show you how far man goes in order to boast about having the best airport. Of all things, the best airport??? Yeah, it beats me.
Anyway, we efficiently made our way through customs and security with no problems. There initially was a long line to get through customs, but Dave G. with his intuitive capabilities coaxed one of the security people to let our team pass through customs in a different line with no wait. Success!!! And then, we made our way to a bus, which drove us to our hotel for the night. As we walked into the hotel, a few things seemed a bit strange. One, a sign for the swimming pool actually read 'swimming poo'. I didn't even try to ask why. Second, most of the beds were one single queen bed. If you know our team and the conversations that started once we heard this, you would understand why this was a major problem especially with a couple guys (I will not name names). And third, we seemed a bit out of place in this hotel, which is why I didn't dare ask about the 'swimming poo'. It seemed like all eyes were staring at us from every which way in every direction. I knew God was with us, but I had a strange insensitive feeling. Other than that, we checked in with no problems and had dinner. I ate with Kevin as we talked about the upcoming mission. We knew God was going to do some amazing things in and through us as with each member of the team. We were stoked as ever. We even asked each other what our parents would think if we stayed longer. Our response was simple.... they would not be happy and wishing beyond a doubt we be home, but thankful in a sense that we were obedient to God's call. It didn't happen to either of us or anyone else on team because each person felt God's call to come back home for a variety of different reasons. I will share my reasons later as these posts continue to unfold.
After dinner, it was time for debrief and prayer in Dave G. and Frankie's room (though I think in Dubai it was in Sam and Erin's room). No matter what, debriefing for any mission trip is basically sharing our highs and lows of the day. It is a time to share whatever God has placed upon our hearts that day.... good or bad. It is a definite intimate time within the group. I personally loved these moments because it was a time to just let God be God for us after a grueling day serving with all our heart on the mission field. We are tired, we are exhausted, we are cranky, we are worn down..... but God knows what is best for us in that particular time. And, we all would just let Him be God for us by comforting us, strengthening us, loving us, preparing us for what lies ahead in the next day... just the next day. Because, by day 8, my strength was literally on empty. I was only running on God's strength by then. It taught me how to let God be God for me in a time when I needed Him most. And, He kept pushing me forward. He never turned His back on me. He was completely faithful in it all. But, that is a story for later on. The debrief process for the Dubai overnite stay was pretty basic in a sense because most people had the same highs and lows. I said most people. The high for me was the anticipation of the trip and what God was/is going to do through us, while the low for me was not enough sleep on the plane. I had jet lag and was dead tired. Sleep could not come soon enough. After debrief, we had a time of prayer. That was very touching though. Our team can pray and knows how to pray. It was awesome to see us continue to unite through prayer as we prayed for what lies ahead for us in Uganda. Great time!!! Then finally, off to bed. I will start talking about my roommate soon. He is the best person I could have ever roomed with because we had some deep intense conversations late into the night almost every night even though he would go to sleep when I was in the middle of talking sometimes. I love him. His name is Richard.... Rico.... But most importantly, I call him Buddy. *big yawn* I am about to doze off. Sorry buddy.... I will talk about you in the next post segment. :D
Anyway, we efficiently made our way through customs and security with no problems. There initially was a long line to get through customs, but Dave G. with his intuitive capabilities coaxed one of the security people to let our team pass through customs in a different line with no wait. Success!!! And then, we made our way to a bus, which drove us to our hotel for the night. As we walked into the hotel, a few things seemed a bit strange. One, a sign for the swimming pool actually read 'swimming poo'. I didn't even try to ask why. Second, most of the beds were one single queen bed. If you know our team and the conversations that started once we heard this, you would understand why this was a major problem especially with a couple guys (I will not name names). And third, we seemed a bit out of place in this hotel, which is why I didn't dare ask about the 'swimming poo'. It seemed like all eyes were staring at us from every which way in every direction. I knew God was with us, but I had a strange insensitive feeling. Other than that, we checked in with no problems and had dinner. I ate with Kevin as we talked about the upcoming mission. We knew God was going to do some amazing things in and through us as with each member of the team. We were stoked as ever. We even asked each other what our parents would think if we stayed longer. Our response was simple.... they would not be happy and wishing beyond a doubt we be home, but thankful in a sense that we were obedient to God's call. It didn't happen to either of us or anyone else on team because each person felt God's call to come back home for a variety of different reasons. I will share my reasons later as these posts continue to unfold.
After dinner, it was time for debrief and prayer in Dave G. and Frankie's room (though I think in Dubai it was in Sam and Erin's room). No matter what, debriefing for any mission trip is basically sharing our highs and lows of the day. It is a time to share whatever God has placed upon our hearts that day.... good or bad. It is a definite intimate time within the group. I personally loved these moments because it was a time to just let God be God for us after a grueling day serving with all our heart on the mission field. We are tired, we are exhausted, we are cranky, we are worn down..... but God knows what is best for us in that particular time. And, we all would just let Him be God for us by comforting us, strengthening us, loving us, preparing us for what lies ahead in the next day... just the next day. Because, by day 8, my strength was literally on empty. I was only running on God's strength by then. It taught me how to let God be God for me in a time when I needed Him most. And, He kept pushing me forward. He never turned His back on me. He was completely faithful in it all. But, that is a story for later on. The debrief process for the Dubai overnite stay was pretty basic in a sense because most people had the same highs and lows. I said most people. The high for me was the anticipation of the trip and what God was/is going to do through us, while the low for me was not enough sleep on the plane. I had jet lag and was dead tired. Sleep could not come soon enough. After debrief, we had a time of prayer. That was very touching though. Our team can pray and knows how to pray. It was awesome to see us continue to unite through prayer as we prayed for what lies ahead for us in Uganda. Great time!!! Then finally, off to bed. I will start talking about my roommate soon. He is the best person I could have ever roomed with because we had some deep intense conversations late into the night almost every night even though he would go to sleep when I was in the middle of talking sometimes. I love him. His name is Richard.... Rico.... But most importantly, I call him Buddy. *big yawn* I am about to doze off. Sorry buddy.... I will talk about you in the next post segment. :D
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Uganda: Flight from LAX to Dubai
It has been a long time, but I am back stronger than ever. I recently came home a few days ago from a two week long mission trip to Uganda that was particularly amazing in a sense that God did tremendous things yet even more particularly cautious in the sense that I saw, heard, and experienced some pretty gnarly things. I will dive more into those things as I share little by little of what happened in distinct post segments. As you can see, today is about our flight from LAX to Dubai, which was uneventful and uncharacteristically awful in my opinion. Why? Because as the anticipation for the trip mounted, the 17 hour long trip felt like 34 hours altogether... double the amount of time. Not what I was hoping for, but the feeling transformed into joyful abandon once we landed in Dubai. Now, I will head into the specifics of the trip from my perspective (and I will only give the first name of my team members to respect their privacy..... we have three Dave's so I will give the first letter of their last name).
The flight began at 4:45 pm PT from Los Angeles International Airport. I was on the right side of the plane squashed in the middle beside Janice and Sam. Sam had the perfect window seat and Janice had the aisle seat. I didn't really care because we were in this for the long run. Seventeen hours is a very long time. All I remember of the flight is I watched two movies.... Wreck it Ralph and The Hobbit, prayed a lot, slept for a few hours in half hour intervals here and there, ate Emirates airline food (really was not that bad), played Who wants to be a millionaire toward the ending of the flight, read my Bible, and listened to a few David Platt sermons from his Secret Church on the cross and suffering. And F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, we landed in Dubai at 7:55 pm Dubai time on Sunday April 7th, which would have been 8:55 am PT on the West Coast in America. Though, what really stood out during the entire airline flight that I will never forgot was a quote from one of the David Platt sermons I listened to!! It stuck out to me like gum stuck on the bottom of someone's shoe. I will end with it...
"The Cross of Christ is the key to understanding all suffering. Suffering was planned for Good Friday. The reason we have suffering in the world has everything to do with Good Friday. Everything in all history including suffering was planned for Good Friday and ultimately points to Good Friday. Everything before the cross points forward to it, everything since the cross points back to it, everything that will last was purchased on it, and everything that matters hinges on the cross. The cross is the key to understanding suffering."
~ David Platt
P.S. This will reign heavily true in the days ahead for me, which is why I have not forgotten it.
The flight began at 4:45 pm PT from Los Angeles International Airport. I was on the right side of the plane squashed in the middle beside Janice and Sam. Sam had the perfect window seat and Janice had the aisle seat. I didn't really care because we were in this for the long run. Seventeen hours is a very long time. All I remember of the flight is I watched two movies.... Wreck it Ralph and The Hobbit, prayed a lot, slept for a few hours in half hour intervals here and there, ate Emirates airline food (really was not that bad), played Who wants to be a millionaire toward the ending of the flight, read my Bible, and listened to a few David Platt sermons from his Secret Church on the cross and suffering. And F-I-N-A-L-L-Y, we landed in Dubai at 7:55 pm Dubai time on Sunday April 7th, which would have been 8:55 am PT on the West Coast in America. Though, what really stood out during the entire airline flight that I will never forgot was a quote from one of the David Platt sermons I listened to!! It stuck out to me like gum stuck on the bottom of someone's shoe. I will end with it...
"The Cross of Christ is the key to understanding all suffering. Suffering was planned for Good Friday. The reason we have suffering in the world has everything to do with Good Friday. Everything in all history including suffering was planned for Good Friday and ultimately points to Good Friday. Everything before the cross points forward to it, everything since the cross points back to it, everything that will last was purchased on it, and everything that matters hinges on the cross. The cross is the key to understanding suffering."
~ David Platt
P.S. This will reign heavily true in the days ahead for me, which is why I have not forgotten it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)