I started reading a book today entitled, "No Matter the Cost."  The first chapter begins with a quote from Joseph Campbell that reads "We must be willing to get rid of the life we planned so as to have the life waiting for us."  That quote really got me.  How true it is that we all struggle with trying to manipulate events and people to arrive at some place that we think is best for us.  For some that means trying to return to some imaginary time back "when" things were simpler, easier and happier.  For others it means seeking to find some place in the future where things are more under control and less ambiguous.  The problem is that neither place exists.  How sad it is to forget that it really isn't about us, nor can we control people or events.  There is a better way to live.
God's agenda is so different than ours.  It seems that most people don't understand that.  But it doesn't really matter if one believes it or not.  History is littered with the destruction of self-deluded people who wasted precious time seeking what was not to be found only to end up in a place of unhappiness.
What would it be like to let go, to REALLY let go, of our manipulations and schemes?  What would it really be like to trust in God, to REALLY trust?  Would our anxieties disappear?  Would fear be replaced by hope?
Too many settle for a small life where they are in charge.  They work hard at it but it's all for nothing.  The only life that can bring strength and joy and honor is a life surrendered to God through Jesus Christ.  David Whyte said it well: "anyone or anything that does not bring you alive is too small for you."  Everything other than a disciples life, sold out to living according to God's agenda, no matter how difficult is too small.  To trust in Him, no matter what, is the only thing big enough.
One day God will have the last word.  When you stand before Him will you be able to say that you didn't settle for a 'self-propelled little life'?  The only way to find the life worth living is to trust in God by denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus daily.  That is what I commit myself to... what do you say?  Who do you say He is?  Is He worth letting go of all your illusions, agendas and control?  If so, you will find life.  If not, you will find fear, anxiety and loneliness.

The team goes to bed tonight for the last time in Uganda; tomorrow begins the long trip home to Houston and Phoenix. What a two weeks it has been. 
Yeah, we’re tired and yeah, we’re more than ready to be home but we are so thankful to have been here. Supported by so many, we were able to do what we are supposed to do…help others and spread God’s love. From something as simple as clothes or soccer balls to something as significant as mosquito nets and malaria medicine, we made a difference in people’s lives. We helped reinvigorate two churches (I’m sure attendance will be up in part because they hosted a three-day medical event at their church). We offered healing prayers and the chance for people to accept Christ as their savior. We bonded with a host of doctors and nurses, working shoulder to shoulder with them and showing our care and concern. Five US women made almost 600 Ugandan and Kenyan women laugh, cry, pray, trust, heal and celebrate, all with God’s help. 
You’ll hear stories, see pictures and watch videos from our trip but it will be tough to fully communicate what we’ve seen. The need is so great. There are so many children yet malaria takes so many. Churches are everywhere yet people still seek hope. We ended each day so tired yet also aware of how much needs to be done. The smiles are so big and the appreciation so sincere yet in their humanness the people become unruly at the end of a long hot day. We are so aware of our blessings yet also mindful of not comparing ourselves or our condition to these people. I’d encourage you to seek out a team member and let them talk for a bit about these past two weeks. 
On that note, how blessed I am to have served with this team. Strong Christians all, they humble me with their service. I love them and treasure my time with them. 
It’s time to come home. We are tired, we look forward to our families, our beds, our food and our routines. We have celebrated and we have worked with our friends here. We need more of everything…prayer, money, medicine, nets, people. But we return home inspired. We have changed, each of us and the people with whom we have interacted. God is good, all the time.

The morning started with Doug waking up with a fever, Justin waking up
feeling better after having sinus issues yesterday. The rest of
the team is feeling pretty well, with Debbie’s rotator cuff feeling
much better after injuring it earlier this week. Both Karen’s prayed
for healing over Debbie on the last day of the women’s conference, and
God, in His great mercy, has answered those prayers with healing!
Praise the Lord!
The trip to Mweya Safari Lodge in Queen Elizabeth Park took about 2
hours. The landscape started out mountainous, covered with kilometers
of tea plants and groves of banana trees and then we dropped out of the
mountains into a vast plain as we approached the park. The lodge is
towards the end of a peninsula with one lake to the north (Lake Henry)
and one to the south (Lake George) with a wide river connecting the two
lakes. The Lake George is 65 kilometers long with the majority of the
lake residing in Congo.
We all took a two hour boat tour on the river to the entrance of lake
Henry to the north. We saw many water buffalo, hippopotamus,
and various types of birds. Three elephants and several crocodiles were
also down by the water’s edge during the boat ride.

Today was a travel day.  We left Mbale early and drove all day from the Eastern side of Uganda to the Western side.  The ride was LONG and bumpy.  We had a quick stop for lunch and a stretch and then we were back on the road.  We are spending the night in a hotel about an hour and a half outside the park entrance so we wouldn’t enter after dark.  
The big excitement of the day (other than Debbie being scared to death of the driving/road conditions) was sighting a herd (?) of zebras on the side of the road.  I’m sure there will be more animal pics tomorrow!!!
Night,  Karen

Today we were again in two groups.  The men plus Vicki were off to medical outreach while the rest of the women were off to teach at the Women’s conference.   Bob was back to full speed which we give praise for.  
The trip out to the medical outreach church was the usual bumpy road.  Not sure I didn’t compress a couple of discs on the way out there.  Interestingly, we arrived to what looked liked a small crowd but it quickly grew.  The day was calmer and more orderly but we were also more efficient.  The controlling factor in our medicine supply is malaria medicine.  We increased the amount we bought but there were so many cases today that we had exhausted our supply in 4 hours.  There were also a lot children with fever running around so that medicine also went quick.  
We estimated that we saw almost 2000 people today.  We gave out 2000 nets today but only 1400 at the out reach because we gave out 600 nets to the women who attended the Women’s conference.   Because we were less people we all had to work in the pharmacy or net distribution just to keep up with the people traffic.  I did a lot of quite prayer while working for a calm outreach and to fend off the clear spiritual attacks.  I am always so grateful to our Lord how quickly he comes to our rescue.  As I reflect back on our mission God has really provided the Uganda Churches with amazing outreach.  We thank all of you for answering His call.  Blessings to all of you.
For an update on the Women’s Conference…..We really missed having Gana and Vicki with us today.  (Gana and David had to leave this morning for Kenya and, as Doug wrote above, Vicki joined the men to help with the medical part of the mission.)
Today we had 20 more women than yesterday, upping our attendance to  590!  Karezona (Karen from Arizona) talked in the morning on unforgiveness.  She, as usual, was amazing.  She has a very calm, thoughtful, sweet way of sharing and I know everyone there was blessed.  Gene had built a 5 foot pvc pipe “jail cell" that they brought from Arizona in their suitcase and put together this morning before the conference.  It was a wonderful prop that Karen stood behind to show how our unforgiveness creates a prison around us.  Karen E. talked about prayer and how we are called to pray for each other, and Debbie gave her testimony of healing (wonderful!) and presented the “5 step model" of prayer.   We ended the conference with everyone praying for each other.
The women were incredibly blessed by the mosquito nets and it was wonderful to see their joy.
We leave tomorrow early and are looking forward to the next step in our journey.  I think all of us will leave a bit of our hearts here in the Mbale area……

Today started off on a bad note; Bob was not going to be with us today as he was not feeling well.  The ladies today are starting a mammoth women’s conference (590 women attended).   So that leaves the remainder of the men; Lee, Doug, Justin, Gene and myself, to handle the nets and medicine duties.  We’re taking 20% more medicines today than yesterday in the hopes of being able to take care of everyone…it was a false hope.
The drive to the church is on one of the worst roads in Uganda.  It was “under construction” last year, this year it is worse.  The poor vehicles we ride in take a beating, bottoming out on every pothole.  We wonder when one of them will fail us.  Leaving Mbale on this route is an assault on the senses.  Ditches running beside the road are flowing with the water from yesterday’s rain and last week’s refuse.  A recently slaughtered goat hangs over there, a man cooking on a wok-looking thing has today’s bread cooking in a pan next to the hanging goat, people loitering all about, a man “mows his yard” with a machete, children bathing in the brown water-again runoff from yesterday’s rain, a motorcycle passes by with two turkeys tied to the back…we had fried turkey for lunch yesterday, an 18 wheeler comes toward us with a massive dust cloud following; we wait for the onslaught of dust to hit us.
Thankfully we turn off the “pavement” and onto the dirt road which is like a Texas highway compared to the pavement we just came from.  We pass people walking on both sides of the road headed in our direction; toward the church, an ominous sign.  In the distance we see the church, or better stated we see the people surrounding the church.  We all are in a state of shock as we get closer, so many people, so few workers, so few medicines.   We estimate that 5,000 people have showed up today for the 5 Muzungu volunteers.  Everything will be a challenge today.  We each know that but no one says it.
Gene and Justin start with distributing nets with Lee, Doug and I filling pill pouches. For some reason today everyone coming through the net line has a story. I need one extra net for my grandmother or for my father or for my sister’s children.Why can’t things be easy?  Does it have to be this stressful?  Then I consider that these people live on less per day than the cost of my one diet coke.  They are coming through the line to collect something worth about one weeks’ earnings for them.  More importantly they are receiving medicines and a net; life saving stuff for someone that can’t afford to get this stuff by their own means.  So I lighten up, joke with the kids, smile at the “Mama’s", and understand their situation a little better.
By the end of the day we hand out 2,000 nets and the doctors write about 3,000 prescriptions.  The medicines run out by 2 pm and again we’re left to just hand out nets. By 3:00 the nets are gone and there’s still 2,000 people outside.
It’s hard to understand how a person can walk 10 miles to get in line for a net and drugs only to find out that they’ve run out.  But that’s the reality of the situation they are in.  Now, they turn around and take the long walk home.
I talked to Pastor Abraham today about the medical missions.  My question is “do they help"?
He says these medical missions are providing a rebirth and renewal in the church.  He explains, as these new churches get older and the problems of the people persist, people sometimes get stagnant in their faith.  Now, here come the Mzungus with something they have prayed about.  Something that will make their children free from malaria and other issues they have been fighting.  In their eyes, God listened to them and sent the Mzungus from the states to help them. Abraham says these churches are being “born again".  Great job COTHA!
As the local song goes “God is good…All the time".  And so he is.
So, on the way home on the rough road, we hit a rather large pothole and the springs bottomed out and made a funny noise.  The driver checks the rear wheel only to find that we’ve broken the axle. What a day!

Today was Church at Pastor Morris’ Church in Mbale.  As always we drive up to the church members singing praise songs.  We joined in for song and prayer before heading off to Sunday School.  Most of the team taught the children’s Sunday School.  They used the COTHA puppets to tell the story of Zacchaeus and Jesus.  A highlight was Bob’s puppet climbing the tree.  The team sang a couple of songs with the children.  Then one of the Ugandan children ministry leaders, Paul, led the children in more songs, had the children come up at lead their favorite songs and recite their favorite memory versus.  I think we all agree these children are amazing.
At the end of children’s Sunday School, we handed out some of the pillow case dresses many of our supporters made.  The girls were really excited and wore them into the Church service. 
A couple of us went to the Men’s Sunday school where another group that is supporting the Luanda Children’s Home (we visited the home on Saturday)  gave testimonies.  We also talked about what it means to put your trust in God to protect you.  A question was asked if you were in the Army and called to serve in Sudan what does it really mean to fully trust God to protect you?  Do you do something or do you just wait for God to protect you?  Most of the Muzungus had a tough time identifying with this circumstance.  However, I bet many of our young soldiers also struggle with this.
The rest of Church was praise and worship and teaching.  Lots of songs, I mean lots of songs.  All the high energy singing really had the Holy Spirit filling the building.  Its loud and Spirit filled.  It was such a joy to be in that service.  I have a hard time describing how cool this service is so you will just to have to come over and experience an Uganda worship service.
On the way home we stopped to buy medicine for tomorrow’s medical mission.  It was amazing to see the medical team pack up all the medicine we think we will need for one day of clinic.  Great care was taken to make sure each box had the medicine we were purchasing.  It gave me great confidence to see the stewardship of our efforts by our Mbale team.  
Afterwards we walked around the shopping area to experience that part of the culture.  We were tempted to buy some of the raw beef hanging outside the shop after being “assured" it was fresh this morning.  Pastor Morris seemed a little worried we might actually purchase some.  Next it was across the street to a super market.  They had a lot of stuff you might need but probably short the inventory of an HEB, actually way short.  
Some of the team spent time getting things ready for the women’s conference on Tuesday and Wednesday.  500 to 600 women are expected.  Then it was R&R.  Justin and Doug were off for a short run with kids chasing them and adults looking at them wondering why two men would run with no particular place to go.  (Many of the COTHA team wondered the same thing about Justin and Doug.) Halfway through the run a tremendous downpour hit and the looks were even stranger.  
Tomorrow starts 3 more days of medical missions and the women’s conference starts Tuesday.  We ask your prayers for strength, wisdom, faith and protection as we move into the next week.  God Bless all for their support because none of this could have happened without your prayers and generous funding.  You are making a huge difference and the Ugandans are so grateful.