We left Nairobi on a night bus headed for Kampala, the capital of Uganda, accompanied by Austin and Jodi's team.  12 hours on a bus. We know the drill by now.

We arrived in Kampala sometime in the morning, hungry, dirty and ready for some sleep.

Austin's team was told their city was only a few hours away and they choose to finish out their trip that same day.  So they immediately jumped into the back of a pickup truck and drove off towards some unknown bus station. 

As for Jodi and my team, we had previously been told that our cities were many hours away and that we should stay the night in Kampala and continue our trip the next day.  So we prearranged with a guesthouse  that they would come pick us up from the bus station and take us there for the night and bring us back to the bus station in the morning.  It was all worked out.  They told us their drivers name was Dale.  All we had to do was find Dale and be on our way.

We offload the bus and wait, looking for Dale.

I see Callan approach a man holding a baby who is staring intently at us.  He proceeds to ask him if his name is Dale, the man agrees.  Callan happily announces to all of us that we have found Dale.  Halleluiah.  He asks Dale where the bus is and Dale points and motions for us to follow him.  So we get all of our gear on and follow him through the busy morning streets of Kampala. 

After a 15 minute trek through the streets where we seemed to be the newest attraction at the zoo, Dale stops, strangely now with no baby in his hands, in the middle of the craziest bus station I have ever seen.  There are people everywhere. Almost immediately we were surrounded by people trying to sell us bus tickets to who knows where.  "Why are we now at another bus station," we all wondered.  Buses were honking and revving their engines.  It was the most chaos I have ever seen, literally.  I look left and see Austin's team roll up in their truck just as Callan is interrogating Dale.  I see Austin dragged off by the hand into a crowd followed a few minutes later by Sam chasing after him.  As I am watching that scene I hear Callan above the noise sternly saying, "What is your name?"

As we all soon realize, Dale isn't in fact Dale.  Callan tells him we won't be needing his help anymore and walks away.  We are back to square one, looking for Dale.

We know we need to get out of the crazy bus park so we can call Dale and get this all worked out.  I look around, there is literally no quiet or unused spot on this street.  It makes my heart panic a little. We know we need to call the real Dale to let him know our new location.  Problem: our Kenya SIM card doesn't work in Uganda.  Answer: Holland and Jodi go get SIM cards and minutes. 

So we find a less chaos spot on the street to plant the two teams and Jodi and I trek off to get the phones taken care of.  Before I walk away I am handed a wad of team money, I stick it in my pocket and we go on.  We find the shop  and get it all worked out.  We start back towards the teams in hopes to get this whole mess sorted out.

I lead Jodi and I through two parked cars back to the street.  I still have my pack on so I barely fit, bad decision.  A man tries to squeeze through going the opposite way and ends up strangely pushing me out of the way into a car. At the same moment I hear Jodi scream "HEY!" I look back and see her holding the arm of the same guy that was passing through.  Somehow I realize what happened.  She caught him pick pocketing me.   I look down and see a bill hanging out of my pocket. He played dumb, of course.  It was all so strange.  Of course the small amount of money he got had long been passed off to one of his cohorts.  So we just walk away.

We got back to the teams and shortly after the real Dale pulls up in a spacious van and whisks us off to the guesthouse for the night.

On the ride there I was thinking about all that had just gone down.  Within our first 30 minutes in Kampala we were lied to and stolen from. That was rough. I felt defeated and was already developing ill feelings towards the country of Uganda in general and definitely for Kampala.  I wanted to sleep and shower and for the day to be over. 

After we arrived at the guesthouse we all more or less crashed for the afternoon.  We woke up, found dinner, ATM's and a whole slew of other things that were needed.  We headed back to the guesthouse to have some worship.  Towards the end two Ugandan's asked if they could join us, we welcomed them and they joined in.

After it was over we asked them what brought them to Kampala.  They proceeded to tell us they were a part of a bigger group of people who worked for invisible children.  They were going to the US embassy the next day in hopes of getting visas to visit the US and tour around spreading awareness over the next few months.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was me missing every clue known to man but I didn't pick up on the fact that they were all from northern Uganda, or that they worked for invisible children, or that they were going on tour of the US to tell their stories...I don't know how it didn't compute...but it took me so long to realize that they ARE the invisible children.  They don't merely work for the organization; they have been through the program. They excitedly told us we could read their stories and watch videos on THEM on the website. They are the face of invisible children.  They are the invisible children. 

So over the next hour or two we heard bits and pieces of these people's stories.  They excitedly told us what states they were each going to and we got to meet the ones going to our homes.  We got to share with them where we were going also.  It was so exciting to know that they were going to our homes and we were going to theirs, literally.

We took pictures, exchanged emails, told stories about American food and culture and Ugandan food and culture, told them must eat restaurants, and asked what they learned in their American class that day.

I retired to my room that evening changed.  I think for the first time I really believed in a cause.  I saw these people my own age and how their lives are completely changed because of invisible children.  And though they have thousands of reasons to be bitter, untrusting people they weren't.  They were joyous, hopeful, and kind.

And as I climbed into bed that night I heard robin yell, "today has been redeemed." And it was. 

That day remains one of my favorite on this trip.

Really though it was just a regular plot of land. Like almost any other in Africa. But what you must realize is that Pastor JJ is a man of vision. He sees what can be, and better yet what will be. He has only been in Pader, Uganda for 3 years but has already built up a church that is almost the largest in the town. And we do not mean a church building. We are talking about a church. A group of people who come together to worship the Lord. A group of people who are a light to the community, who are joyful because they have a reason to be joyful. However as most can attest churches need a place to operate.

We come to you on behalf of Pastor JJ and his church. They are in need of about $10,000 to build their new church. They have been meeting in a borrowed building which in the next month will be taken away from them. If there is one thing we have learned for certain these past 7 months it is that there is so much need in this world. It is everywhere, it does not matter what corner of the world we go to.

But to be able identify a need for a group of people and even begin to have the means to meet that - this is a blessing in itself.

Northern Uganda is an area that has experienced much darkness in the past 20 years. It is an area that has been plagued by wars and senseless death. Men our own age are haunted by the times that they were forced to serve in armies, that their fathers, mothers and sisters were killed, it is an area in recovery, and in need. What better to invest in than the church? We as Christians claim to know something that others do not. We claim to hold to a truth that is beyond us, and beyond this world. If ever darkness was in need of light it is surely here. If we are in Christ than it is our brothers and sisters in Uganda whom we are asking you to help.

We, the J Squad, have been given the opportunity to raise money for Victory Outreach Ministries in Pader, Uganda. They are in need of a church building. This is not a church building complete with bells and whistles and Sunday school rooms and gyms. This is a building, a one room building for God's people to meet. A building for God's people to come together and worship the lord. A group of people standing as a light to a community amongst much darkness.

Team Symphony had the opportunity to spend a month with Pastor JJ and according to the team they have rarely come across a man with such faith, with such blind obedience to the Lord. Pastor JJ moved his wife away from his and her family 3 years ago to start this church. His wife is the only one working to bring money for the family, she works at a NGO as a maid. The church can not afford to give Pastor JJ a salary. Any tithe or donation that the church is able to give goes to both paying for the church building/property and helping those who are in great need, and believe me there are plenty of these people.

Please help us help this man, this family, this church, and this community. There is a need to be met, please help us to meet it. We know many of you have already supported someone on this trip, but we have no one else to ask. We as a squad are coming together to raise money for this church. You who are reading this are our church, you are the people we stand with and so we ask you to help us. Please help us meet this need, this need which we are capable to meet. Even if we do not raise the complete $10,000, we can guarantee any amount will be a blessing to this church. Please seriously and prayerfully considering donating to a worthy cause, we only have until April, 24^th 2010 to raise the money. PLEASE JOIN US!

(We're trying to publish a video of Victory Outreach Ministries but are having a difficult time publishing it with the slow internet, we will post it as soon as possible)

To donate via the internet click HERE.

Please indicate "World Race Project Fund – 2010 Feb J Squad" in the memo section of the check.

Your gift is tax-deductible.

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Currently we reside in a town called Pader in northern Uganda. We live in a small cement room. There is no electricity and no water. We share a pit latrine (aka squatty potty) and outside shower closet with all of our neighbors. It's hard to sleep at night because it is so hot and our bodies just aren't used to sleeping in such conditions. The temperature is at least a 100 degree most days. It's the dry season, so its dusty. Very dusty.

It's hard; we aren't used to the conditions. We are sweaty, dirty, sunburned, and tired most of the time...but it's also good. And I feel I have no room to complain. Seriously.

We are living on land that not 5 years ago was war occupied.

The town is ravaged after 20 years of continuous war. 

There is little to no economic activity, people are stuck in survival mode.

If it weren't for the NGO's (non government organizations) that flooded Pader I'm not sure if there would be cars, or electricity, or permanent buildings. And while these things can be seen, they are not available to any of the natives of Pader.

People live in huts with thatched roofs and spend their days literally trying to put food on the table in the evening. We see kids with huge bellies from malnourishment. Trash is everywhere because there is nowhere to put it.  People haul 5 gallon jugs of water miles to their homes for necessities like cooking and drinking. We have to bus in necessities like water and rice and beans. There are no farms, no stores.

It's a hard place to live.

There is nothing.

And the word that runs through my head repeatedly is rebuilding.

And I don't know why it runs through my head without ceasing, why it's all I can think about. I have no expertise in an area even close to planning a city or even know what that means yet I am left with the weight of this.

The idea of rebuilding, it lives on.

Hello from Malava or Malanga or Kakamega or Webuye...

Truthfully I am not even sure of the proper name of the area which we now call home...but honestly it doesn't matter.

I THINK we live in a small village that goes by the name of Malanga, named for the family we are living with.  They have 4 sons and 2 daughters, which as they tell us by Kenyan standards is small.  They are amazing!  The head of the family we call simply ‘Malanga' and he is the pastor of the church we are working with and an accountant by trade.

We are so blessed by them and the ways they serve and welcome us into their home and family.  Their land and farm is simply beautiful and I hope to get some pictures up soon.

As we guessed, internet is pretty much non-existent for a 45 minute radius around us which means we will only have a chance to catch up once a week on our day off (which is Friday). 

For ministry thus far we are broken up into 3 teams and we have been going around the surrounding villages with some of our new Kenyan friends and praying for people and telling them about Jesus and inviting them to join us at church.  I have never felt so welcomed and comfortable around complete strangers!  The people here truly are one of a kind and I know no other way to describe them.  We will also be helping with the youth at the church and will help preach and lead worship at the church on Sunday. Whatever is to come everyone is very excited about it as the general consensus of our team is that they are absolutely in love with Kenya and it's people!

I am so thankful to be in Kenya and be on this trip and be living with our new family...so thank you to all of you who have made this possible.

I love you all!

And just like that plans changed, twice!

Last I told y'all our team was gearing up for a place called Lodwar, Kenya where we would have been working with the Turkana people. Since that time our ministry has changed not once but twice.

Our plan as of now is to go Kakamega, Kenya. It is a town on the far western part of Kenya. We are told that we are the first mzungus (white people) ever to go to this town...which is soo cool!!

As far as we know we will spend time doing construction, meeting the people of the town, working in schools, and some evangelism. Regardless of what we end up doing our team is very excited to go to this town and share with them the love of Jesus that we all share.

We will leave Nairobi on Monday and make the 7 hour trek northwest to Kakamega.

This is the Kakamega Rainforest where we will be living!!!

(leize and in front of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. we ran into eachother my first day in turkey and her last day)

Happy Birthday.  See you in Africa