Update

Yesterday started early as we left Jinja at 5am to leave for Kampala. Paul and Pam were taking Abdu and Robert to the American Embassy to appeal for a visa so they could come to US for 2 months this summer and receive some training. We also were taking Chad and Quaid (the video guys) back to Entebbe for their outgoing flight and to pick up his wife, Syd, daughter, Jade and her friend, Savana.

Getting to downtown Kampala that early in the morning was quite an adventure! Bumper to bumper traffic with pedestrians, motorbikes, and bikes weaving in and out. At one point there was a young man on a skateboard holding onto the back of some random truck maneuvering through traffic. We arrived to the embassy at 7:30am and had to wait until 8 for them to open the gates. After going through security, I was standing on American soil once again. Then we went through the process of Abdu and Robert waiting for their interview for the visa. Paul brings one or two Ugandan men who have demonstrated leadership and character qualities with him back to the states during the summer months to receive more training and equipping in their sphere of influence. They return to Uganda to implement into their own business and community what they have learned .

For example, Abdu, (he and his wife Betty and two children - Moses and Sarah live with the Hunters) wants to raise chickens. Not just a few chickens to supply his family with eggs, but millions of chickens which will lay millions of eggs. He wants to build a business and teach and equip other Ugandan’s to do the same. He told me yesterday that he believes in the concept that if you give a man a fish he will come back later asking for another. But if you teach him how to fish, he will prosper and come out of his “begging” mentality - which is big here in Uganda and the rest of Africa. Abdu currently has over 100 laying chickens but is working to expand his farm and build bigger chicken barns and eventually have a fully automated chicken barn. One purpose of him coming to the US is to visit our chicken farms and receive vision and practical knowledge on how to implement this in his community.

This was Abdu’s 5th time applying for a visa. We believed and prayed that the visas would be granted. However, both the men’s visa’s were denied. It was a tough and disappointing morning for us, but we are trusting the Lord for His timing and purposes.

The remainder of the morning we spent in Kampala grocery shopping. Paul, Pam, and Robert left and went home, while the rest of us went to the airport to drop off and pick up. It was a long afternoon of waiting. We dropped them at 2:30 and picked up the girls at 9:30. I became very familiar with the Entebbe airport, drank Fanta (a soda), watched planes from Ethiopia land and fly away, watched monkeys, napped, looked at Lake Victoria from a distance, watched people, and visited with Abdu and our driver - all in all fully imerging myself in the Ugandan national past time. After picking the girls, we once again made the trek back to Jinja. It was pretty entertaining watching our latest arrivals’ faces as we once again had a few close calls with oncoming sugar cane trucks fully equip with one working headlight and audacious black men walking across the dark road with nothing to warn of their crossing except their bright smiles.

Ok, Paul just sent me his update. I am going to post it here because it explains a lot that I didn't.

In the words of Paul Hunter:

The Joy of Victory … and the Agony of Defeat March 19, 2008
My father really enjoyed sports when I was a boy growing up. After we got a television we were introduced to Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, Summer and Winter Olympics, and, on every Saturday afternoon … ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Their introduction, accompanied by a wide range of sports video, is burned forever in my memory, “… the joy of victory … and the agony of defeat.”This phrase leaped to my mind as I began to attempt a recap of our past three days here in Uganda.Sunday Next Generation Ministries hosted and cosponsored a marriage conference with our home church here. It was a one day conference titled The Joy of Marriage. We had 15 couples, three of whom are engaged and yet to be married, who attended and it turned out to be a GREAT day of GREAT joy for all of us. I enjoyed the testimonies at the end of the day as much as I enjoyed all the rest of the activity. Malcolm, one of our team members, Pam and I did the teaching. Malcolm’s wife, Lilly, helped him lead worship and sang her last recorded song ... twice. God advanced His Kingdom in the lives of those who attended, including Pam and me. We fell into bed at the end of the day with a renewed vision for the marriages and families of Uganda and a refreshed spirit for our own.Monday was another big day for us and a wonderful lady named Alice. Alice is Betty’s mother and one of the widows who works with the other widows in the Ebenezer Bakery. Her sponsor had graciously provided the funds to purchase 182 chicks, and feed and doctor them for the next 5 months until they begin producing eggs. Alice will then have another dependable source of income for food and school fees for her children. When we arrived with the chicks, plus 10 roosters chicks that the seller threw in, Alice was so happy she giggled like a young school girl! When she expressed her appreciation for this gracious provision from God, for the video camera, I began to leak. God is SO good.The joy of victory … what a pleasant taste that was!
Very early Tuesday morning we gathered in a circle in the dark courtyard of our compound to pray for a safe journey, a sense of God’s presence, and a request that He move on the heart of the U.S. Consular, at the U.S. Embassy, who would either deny or grant visas to Abdu and Robert before 9 AM. It has been reported that less than 10 percent of applicants for visas are given them from this Embassy. We were also taking Chad and Quaid Hair back to Entebbe so that they could return to Idaho and two hours later picking up Chad’s wife, Syd, and her 14 year old daughter Jayde and her 14 year old friend, Savannah.It is here that I must let Pam tell that story. Pam?Thanks so much for your prayers and support with many invitations for our two team members to come to the U.S. this summer. Today was the day for us to go the the U.S. Embassy in Kampala to make the request.I'll give you the details, for those that want them, but I'll tell you outright that they were both denied their applications. Again! Even though this is the first time this year that they have applied, we all were really expecting that this time they would get an acceptance. We were all so very disappointed. Both Robert and Abdu took it very well. It was Paul who was having the most trouble.You know, over the past months as we have lived here with Abdu and have had many opportunities to be with Robert, we have talked a lot about what this summer will be like for them in the U.S. And we have spent much time trying to prepare them for the culture that they will be exposed to in the U.S., talking about all the foods, teasing them about there being NO matooke in the U.S., wondering if they'll want to drive a car, swim in our pool, and just trying to broaden their base of understanding of what they have never experienced and don't know they are missing. But this morning as we were praying in the driveway before we entered the vehicle that would take us to the Embassy, I had a short picture of zooming out from the spot where we were standing, much like a close up shot of any spot on earth that would then zoom to outer space on Google Earth. I immediately realized that this moment was not about us and getting visas at the Embassy, but it was about God and His plan for each of us this day, and the big picture that only He knows completely. I also realize that my feelings of disappointment are not quite as tender as Robert and Abdu's feelings. But the truth, as I shared it at lunch, was that we could not celebrate getting visa's and planning a trip to the U.S., but we could still celebrate the goodness of God in our lives and the fact that His purpose still remain. We are each committed to His purpose in our lives, and we have no reason to believe that He is not still working that out.Pam was helpful to each of us, but especially me. I am grateful for night … not because it can bring closure to a day of disappoint or perceived defeat … but, because the morning follows it. God has promised that His mercies are new EVERY morning. I have enjoyed those mercies today and I stand ready to watch His amazing victory in my life each day. How knows? Maybe God is already at work, doing something so far beyond my effort, to still arrange visas for those men!

(The photo above is Moses - Abdu's youngest, Abdu and chicks, and me carrying chicks)