Originally, we were scheduled to spend New Year’s Eve in Sudan, and I was SO excited! Going to Sudan is a dream of mine in and of itself, and to spend such a special night there just filled my heart with unexplainable joy and thanksgiving.
However, there was some miscommunication that caused us to book a flight into the wrong city in Sudan. And while organizing the flight change, we learned that due to the holidays and the limited flights to Yei, Sudan, the earliest we could fly there would be Jan 3. So, not only was my dream of New Year’s in Sudan crushed, but we now would only be spending 2 full days in Sudan as opposed to 5…
I was pretty disappointed, and I actually tried to make myself not think about it because I didn’t want that reality to catch up with my once joy-filled heart.
So I tried to suck it up, and was just thankful that we were still going to Sudan at all. I’ve been in contact with their Dallas-based staff over the past few months, and I’ve become more and more excited about meeting the Harvesters team and seeing those cute kids!
Well, the decrease of days in Sudan also meant an increase of days in Uganda. We would now be in Uganda for 3 full days on the front end of our trip, and we didn’t really know what we would do during that time… I started pouting to myself, “Well…we’ll just sit around, and I’ll be all depressed that we’re not spending New Year’s with the orphans…”
But Liz suggested trying to find an organization in Entebbe, Uganda (where we’ll be staying), and see if we can try and meet with someone even though it’s so last minute.
So I started randomly googling Entebbe organizations, and eventually came across the Entebbe Women Association (EWA). Their home page immediately grabbed my attention, as it read: “Entebbe Women Association…In God All Things Are Possible”
I’m not sure if the organization is Christian-based or not, but after reading through their website, and learning a little more about what they do to help the women and children of Uganda, I got really excited about contacting them. So I sent an email to the address on their website, and waited to hear back about any possibilities for Liz and I to visit EWA.
The next day, I saw a reply in my inbox. Margaret (from EWA) sent me a sweet email, saying that they would love to host us, and she even offered to book our hotel and pick us up from the airport! We’ve been emailing back and forth over the past 4 or 5 days. And I have been SO incredibly encouraged… Not only did God bring us another organization to meet with, but he brought someone like Margaret, who has been SO sweet and kind and encouraging… AND, it turns out that EWA has projects in the same town that we will be visiting a Compassion International sponsored child on Jan 7. So we’ve organized it to where Margaret will travel with us, and show us the EWA projects after meeting with the Compassion Child. And now Liz and I won’t have to travel alone!
So even though I was bummed before about the Sudan changes, I have been so incredibly encouraged this week about these recent plans to meet with EWA. I can’t think of a more encouraging outcome to all the crazy changes we had to make…
I am REALLY looking forward to meeting the EWA staff, and learning about the various projects they have in Uganda.
I know God will still bless our time in Sudan, and I trust that He allowed those flights conflicts to occur in order for His glory to be better lived out.
I’ve added the EWA link to our list of organizations to the right of the blog.
-B
