About The Trip

Here you will find entries from my journal during the trip to Gulu, Uganda, taken by a team from Antioch Community Church in College Station, Texas. I'll fill in all the details and such that I left out of my journal, so you aren't lost as I tell about taking a boda to Main Market before getting a rolex and taking a soda.

Our mission in life is to advance the Kingdom of God, and our specific mission in this trip was to bring the Kingdom closer to the city of Gulu, Uganda, by finding "people of peace" with the potential to become leaders. Our goal was to find two or three of these people and pour into them over the two weeks we spent there, teaching and modeling Christ to them, so that they would then go out and gather people, sharing the Gospel with them and teaching them what they learned from us, thus multiplying disciples of Jesus and affecting the whole city, long after our departure.

The team members were:

Mitchell and Beth Welch - a young couple who went to Gulu in 2011 with Antioch. Both were primary leaders for the trip, though Beth stayed in America as our main contact point, since she was 7 1/2 months pregnant when we left.

Rachel Aston - The other primary team leader.

Matthew Stewart

Oliver Debayle

Emmery Glynn

Pablo Lopez

Hailey Marsh

Blake Schulze
Christie Smith
and myself.

Thank you for supporting me and my team, for your prayers before, during, and even after the trip, and for taking the time to read about the trip from my perspective. I hope you enjoy!

In Christ,

Brandon Bronaugh

Day 17 - Tuesday, June 26. The journey home.

 Please forgive me for failing to write anymore after Wednesday. Though I did have a better view on it, I still struggled with the “go-go-go” mentality, and I usually did journaling in the evening (The one time I tried to do it at lunch, I never got to it because I was going over lessons), but then it was always late, so I put it off. I did a lot Thursday through Sunday, but it wasn’t very much new stuff.

 So, another epic fail in the journaling department. We’re on the last leg of our trip, the plane back to Houston (I slept through the first one). I’ve been busy and/or sidetracked since Thursday, so I haven’t recorded anything else, obviously. The rest of the trip since the safari really hasn’t been too eventful, though. I mostly just tagged along with other people to their meetings or just around town. I think our group found a total of five, or maybe six, people of peace who could become leaders. This was even more than our original hope. None of those were people I originally found, but I played a part in our team meeting them, and then in teaching some of them lessons later on. For example Oliver met Richard, the shop owner in Main Market, when we went there together and I talked to the owner of the next store (when I went looking for a hat). I know I’ve been an important part of the team, even though that hasn’t been too obvious all of the time. That was one lie I had been trapped with, and also the lie that I could somehow “mess up” God’s perfect plan for the trip. But the reality is, the truth is, that, no matter how hard it may be to accept it sometimes, God’s ways are so much higher than ours, and we don’t see nearly everything that takes place. I interacted with so many people, and I shared the Gospel with so many of them, and I have no way to know what God is going to do with all of those meetings and call and words and prayers and smiles. That’s what this is all about. The Gospel, the Good News, so good people will go to a strange place and eat food they don’t like and do things they don’t know how to do, just for the chance to tell it to people who have never heard it before. Some people even go and live in places most people wouldn’t even want to see, except maybe in a picture that causes you to, perhaps, shed a tear and think quiet thoughts for a while before giving a few cents just to ease your conscience, I think you could say there are two kinds of people in this world, those who spread the Gospel, to the ends of the earth, with the hope and promise of every person someday knowing it, and those who don’t. There aren’t missionaries and non-missionaries. A missionary is just someone who goes to a foreign country to spread the Gospel. An architect is an architect whether he designs the house next door or the high-rise on another hemisphere. And giving money to help someone else share the Gospel is indeed advancing its progress, but it shouldn’t ease your conscience. Rather, it should cause it to burn even more, and those quiet thought to turn to the question, “This person is travelling to another country just because this news is so important that it must be shared, and what have I done to share it?” No extra reward is given to those who travel.

 So then, what I hope is the biggest change in me from this trip is how I view the Gospel. Until now, if I had asked myself that question, the answer would be pretty near to nothing. I did a lot of seed-sowing on this trip, and I hope to continue after getting back home.

Day 11 - Wednesday, June 20

Safari Day

 “Today” (it’s actually Thursday, but I’m going to write as if it were last night) we went on a safari! It was really fun, and relaxing, and kind of once-in-a-lifetimelike. The bus ride, though most Americans would probably call it a van, was terrifying. We rattled down the road, barely avoiding potholes, people, and passing cars, for over an hour to get to the national park. Then we rattled down dirt roads, stopping to take pictures of warthogs, antelope, giraffes, water buffalo (they were actually cape buffalo), and even elephants, and some famous Ugandan Cranes (Great Crested Cranes, the national bird of Uganda). We stopped at a pond full of hippos, and we went to the bank of the Nile River. While there, we took lunch and fended off hungry baboons while waiting for the boat that would take us to Murchison Falls, known to the natives as “The Devil’s Eye.” On the boat ride, we saw many of the same animals we saw in the van, plus a glimpse or two of a crocodile. When we reached our destination, we climbed out onto a big rock and took pictures with the fall in the background. Then we found out that we couldn’t do the hike up to the falls that we had planned on, so we rode back in the boat. On the way, we stopped right next to a crocodile that was sitting on the bank. I was at the front of the boat, so the croc was probably about ten feet from me, staring at me with its mouth hanging open. I was, uh, only a little nervous.

 The rest of the day was pretty uneventful compared to all that, except that Emmery scolded a baboon that was about to try to take some trash from her, and then it hit her on the leg, and took the trash anyway after she threw it away. A beautiful sunset and another crazy bus ride later (Seriously, it was ridiculously scary. We were bouncing down the road, weaving back and forth around potholes, coming literally within inches of hitting pedestrians. I never thought I would be so grateful for a yellow line…), and we were back at the hotel for the night. More tomorrow… er, today…

Day 10 - Tuesday, June 19

 Wow! Freedom! Oh, I don’t even know where to begin! Today was terrible. This morning I was still feeling very sick. I was prayed over a little bit in the morning meeting, but didn’t get any better. I went to the Main Market to meet with Robert at 11:15, had a very disappointing meeting with him and the few others he brought, then rescheduled my other meeting with Okello Mario and went back to the hotel to rest. I didn’t leave the room all afternoon. I felt terrible, and lying down for so long actually just made it worse. I got up to meet with Sunday, but ended up rescheduling that, too, after calling and finding out he would be at least an hour late.

 So, I was doing bad. I was sick, but didn’t take any medicine because I wanted God to heal me. I felt lost and disconnected, like I couldn’t hear God. Matt ran into my room at one point and said happily that I was going to get better, because he was praying for me. That was encouraging. Then Pablo came in and talked to me. He told me some truth, and he told me that the things I had been believing were lies, thinking that I couldn’t hear God, or that I wasn’t doing the right thing. He reminded me that God is always near, and he loves me. He prayed with me for a long time, too. We talked for like 45 minutes total, and I felt a lot better, but still not 100%. (To put it into a picture, I felt like I was trapped, and now I knew a little bit about what it was that was holding me down, but I was still trapped by it.)

 We went to dinner, and I ate a lot, quickly. I hadn’t eaten since a small breakfast. I was feeling much better, laughing and joking with everyone, and then Matt came over and asked if he could talk to me. He and Rachel took me to a (somewhat) secluded spot to talk.

 Matt and Rachel asked me how I was doing, how I had been feeling. I told them about my feelings of disconnect, and of feeling like I wasn’t hearing God, and feeling like I was running the wrong way, even though I was trying to run to God, and feeling like my fire was burning low because I was shoveling coal onto it, instead of God (I used the picture from A Pilgrim’s Progress where Christian sees the man throwing water on a fire, but it just grows bigger because Jesus is secretly throwing coal onto it). I told them about the questions I had been wrestling with, and how I still felt sick. I was upset with myself just for being sick, and I hadn’t taken any medicine since the night before because I wanted God to heal me, and I didn’t think He would if I had so little faith that I needed to turn to medicine. I also told them about many other lies that I had believed, though I didn’t even realize it. I had been worried and upset about messing up the trip by becoming sick; I had been trying to please the leaders and other team members on the trip, and had been afraid of letting them down; and I felt like I couldn’t hear or feel God, even though I was trying so hard. I had also believed, for a long time, that I had a certain standard that I needed to live up to, a perfect image of myself that I should be, though I didn’t realize it. I was constantly falling short of it, failing in despair to live up to an impossible standard. The team leaders talked and shared personal stories with me, bringing the lies to light and showing me the truth in their place. They taught me how to keep from believing lies and to walk in truth instead. And through it all, I found freedom. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of me, like Someone had walked into the cell and unlocked my chains. I also didn’t feel sick after we finished talking! It was definitely a talk that I really needed.

Day 9 - Monday, June 18

Today was a strange day; it was hard to focus. I was asked to share a “nugget” with everyone at the meeting this morning, just anything that I felt God had been saying that the whole group could be encouraged by. I had been feeling recently, especially since hearing a certain song during worship last night, like God was telling me that His grace is enough. He guves us many other things, but even if there was nothing else, His Grace is enough for us. Even if he never blessed us, never healed us, even never spoke to us or comforted us, His grace is enough. Through His grace, we have been saved, forgiven of a debt we could never pay, and adopted into God’s family. I shared the verse in 2 Cor. 12 where Paul says that, and in Hebrews 11where it says that those people never, in this live, received the promise, but pressed on to the end anyway. I’ve read those passages many times before, but God really spoke to me in a new way through them. That “nugget” was, I feel, more for me than everyone else.

 Sunday’s phone wasn’t working this morning, but Christie and I found him and his family at their home. We talked for a short while rescheduled our meeting to the afternoon at the Acholi Inn, and prayed for his mother’s hurt ankle. I think it was healed at least a little. We left soon after that, and Sunday escorted us into town. Along the way, we met a guy named Peter, who is Sunday’s best friend, I think (that’s what it sounded like he said). He was hard to understand. He said he was born again, and he wanted to join Sunday in the meeting in the afternoon. Christie and I prayed for some ringworm on Peter’s neck, and he said it didn’t itch as much. Then another guy walked up and said he wanted to be born again, and delivered from alcohol, so we prayed for him, too. I think he may have actually been drunk at the time.

 The rest of my scheduled meetings fell through. I saw Dennis, though, and met some of his friends and shared the Gospel with them. I planned a meeting for tomorrow with one of them, a guy named Okello Mario, and some of his friends. Also, Christie and I went around Main Market looking for a dress for me to get for Kira, and shared the Gospel with the owner of a fabric and clothing store, a man named Robert. He said he was born again, and that he would bring people tomorrow for us to share the Gospel with.

 Christie and I met up with the rest of the team at Coffee Hut. I took lunch from the bakery next door. We saw a man across the street who was limping, so Rachel, Emmery, and I went over to him and prayed for him. Nothing happened, but he thanked us and limped away. We went back and continued lunch.

 Rachel, Emmery, and I went to Doreen’s shop next. She mostly sells stuff hand-woven from bamboo strips, and also other little trinkets from other people. Pablo had gotten a hat from there earlier in the trip. She and her husband showed us their home, and she told us about some sicknesses and trouble from evil spirits that had been afflicting her. We each prayed for her in turn. When I prayed, last, I just declared freedom for her in the name of Jesus. It was the only point in the day, except for a little bit during my “nugget” that morning, that I felt clarity and focus. Doreen thanked us, and then Rachel and Emmery left. I looked at some of the things they were selling, bought a picture frame, and then went to the Acholi Inn, where Rachel and Emmery were waiting for a meeting. I felt disconnected and scatterbrained again.

 At the Acholi Inn, the people who Rachel and Emmery were supposed to meet with didn’t show up, so we talked for a while. I told them how I felt, so they prayed for me, and God told Rachel to tell me that things didn’t always need to be “go-go-go,” but it was ok to stop for a while. It was exactly what I needed to hear, and I felt a lot better. I had enough time before my meeting with Sunday to go exchange some money and come back to the Acholi Inn.

 Sunday showed up, thirty minutes late (which is actually pretty good for the Ugandans. People who showed up on time, or even early, were rare), and only brought Peter with him. Christie, Emmery, and Hailey were there, too, and we had been talking until Sunday showed up. I shared the Gospel with Peter, showing him how to teach it to others, since he had told me he was born again. He kept talking about other things while I tried to teach him, and it frustrated me because it seemed like he just wasn’t receiving anything. We did talk to the waiter before leaving, though, and we’re meeting with him on Thursday.

 The only other eventful thing was that we got together and prayed as a team for the trip, then for our team, then for Mitchell and Beth and their baby. I just wasn’t feeling it, though, and it troubled me (by that, I meant that I felt disconnected and unfocused again, only this time, it felt like I wasn’t connecting specifically with God, like I couldn’t get through to pray for those things, only just sit there wondering what was going on). Matt sensed something wrong, so he asked me about it later, and I told him how the day had been and how I felt during prayer. He prayed for me and encouraged me. Then I went to sleep.

-That night, I got sick. I went to sleep feeling cold, but then I woke up after about an hour, feverish and shivering. Oliver gave me some Tylenol and prayed for me. I laid back down, but couldn’t go back to sleep for about another hour.

Day 8 - Sunday, June 17

Our team declared a day of rest for the second "half" of Saturday, after about 3 PM, and first "half" of Sunday. We went back to the hotel and could either rest, read, journal, or anything else relaxing. On Saturday, I took a 4 hour nap...
 Today (we're back on Sunday) was a continuation of our day of rest. First, though, I need to finish writing about yesterday. My meeting with Sunday was great, like I said in yesterday's entry. After that, though, my other two scheduled meeting fell through because those people's phones weren't working. I'll try again this week. Instead, I met up with Oliver at the Main Market, and we went to a restaurant to take lunch. Blake, Matt, and Oliver all showed up, too, unplanned, so we all took lunch together. The food was good, but it took about an hour to get there.
 The only other thing I did in town was meet with Dennis, the shop owner in main Market. He said he understood, and that he wanted to know Jesus, but I'm not really sure if he actually understood everything. I told him how to pray and receive salvation, and invited him to church. He didn't show, but I'll still visit him, and if I can, bring another Ugandan with me to help him understand.
 Last night, Kevin and Ryan came over, and we all played fishbowl. (Fishbowl is a combination of several games. Each player writes three words or phrases on pieces of paper and puts them in the "fishbowl." You play catch phrase with all of the words, then charades, then you can only say one word, then only sounds. It's a really fun game, and our team loved to play it.) It was so much fun, and we have several new quotes from it.
 So today, non of the people I invited to church showed up. A few of the others, who were invited by other team members, were there, though. It was a good service, I enjoyed it. At the end, we prayed for each other, and Pablo told me a really encouraging picture the Lord gave him, of me running and on fire, and everyone I touched caught on fire as well.
 We had pizza for lunch, and it was great. It wasn't exactly like American pizza, but it was close. Then we rested until evening worship.
 Evening worship was great. We just stood - or sat, jumped, walked, whatever you felt - worshipping God for over an hour at the church.
 That night, after a brief meeting and dinner with Kevin, and the two other interns who just arrived today, we Skyped with Beth and Mitchell . It was great to see them and talk to them again. They are doing well. We laughed and shared jokes and stories with them, and they prayed for all of us.
 Now our Sabbath is over, and it's back to meetings and sowing seeds tomorrow.

Day 7 - Saturday, June 16

 Sorry I missed yesterday, it was because we went out late. Yesterday was good. We had a meeting scheduled for 9:30 with Komakech, but we showed up late. He wasn't there when we arrived, but we don't think he was there before then, either. After that, Oliver and I went to meet with Richard, but he wasn't there, so we went to a rolex stand, where we ran into the other guys on our team. we got rolexes and headed to Pece Stadium (pronounced "petch-ay"). Rolexes are delicious! It's eggs, usually three, and "chops," which are chopped tomatoes, onions, and lettuce, and a little salt, fried and rolled up in two tortilla-like things, their name sounds like "chi-potty." (It wasn't until the end of the trip on our way to Entebbe airport that I finally saw it written somewhere. It's spelled chipatti, and it's basically like tortillas, except the ingredients are slightly different, causing them to be ridiculously delicious. I think they have onion in them.) At Pece Stadium, they were having an athletics day. It's a nationwide even that happens twice per school term (Actually, it's twice per year. Whoever told me that probably meant school year.) all over the country, and this region's events are held at Pece Stadium. We saw some amazing athletes there.
 Oliver and I left Pece a little early to meet with some people. we met with Sam Anthony, James from the day before, and a friend James brought named Justin. Any of them could be a person of peace, but it  seems likely that Sam is. Soon after that, we met with Lawrence, the man from the bank the other day. He had followed Jesus in the past, but had strayed away because of things that happened to him, like losing his parents. He said he would need to think about it before deciding to accept Jesus. He lives far away, though, so Kent Forester (the long-term missionary who lives there with his family. He is normally there to help guide the short-term teams, but he and his family were in America at the time for a break, so Kevin was taking his place) will need to keep in touch with him. Later, after dinner, the guys went to what was basically a club/whorehouse to minister to guys outside. It was a fruitful endeavor. I met with three guys, and I think all three will go to church tomorrow. I met with one of them, named Sunday, today, and he accepted Jesus! We will meet again Monday, and he's bringing people with him. I think he could be another person of peace. We will see. The only other meeting today that actually happened was with Dennis, the shop owner in Main Market. I'm not sure if he understood what I told him, but he did say he wants to know Jesus, so I told him how to pray to God and receive salvation. I'll see him at church tomorrow or another day at his shop. I'll write about the rest of today after church tomorrow. Blake and Oliver are waiting for the light.

Day 5 - Thursday, June 14

 Wow, today was pretty incredible. It didn't start out completely good, though. I was tired this morning and started to doze off during my quiet time and the team meeting, which was embarrassing, and I got distracted several times during worship. But, God never gets tired, so He still did work today. At breakfast, Hailey's water bottle was oddly completely full, and then Emmery showed her the encouragement she had written. (We did encouragements throughout the trip. We would have some kind of theme, such as words, pictures, etc, and certain people to give them to the next day. That day, we were given a random person, and we were supposed to listen to God for a picture to give to them.) She had been given two pictures, and one was of a water bottle full to the top! It was really cool to see something like that happen.
 Oliver and I stuck together all day. Komakech (the rolex stand owner we had talked to the night before) wasn't at his rolex stand in the morning, so we went into town, got some copies (of the lessons we go over with the Ugandans), and then took an incredibly long, and painful because a footrest was missing, boda ride to a school. We talked to the admins, and we're going back tomorrow or Saturday to tell them about Jesus. We had lunch in town again, but this place was pretty sketch. I had boiled goat meat. It was alright, actually; it tasted kind of like beef jerky, with a texture similar to regularly cooked beef (like they cook it, I think usually boiled). Oliver found some intestines or something in his beef. It was not a little disturbing.
 Next, we went to Main Market. Oliver was going to meet with Richear, but he wasn't there. We talked to and prayed for the other shop owner we had met, and he had at least a partial healing of his throat from flu. We almost (I think I meant to say "also." Typo... er, write-o...) met another shop owner, James, who seems really legit. He has a wife and a cute 3 month, and on day, old son. He seems to have his life pretty well in order, except that he doesn't go to church anymore because his old church was corrupt. He's going with us to Antioch on Sunday, and we'll drop in on him again tomorrow. We went back to the village and saw Komakech, but he was busy, so we are going to meet with him tomorrow morning. There was another young man named James, who we met there last night, and he came and met with us and talked, and mostly listened, for a while. I started going through a lesson with him, but I got frustrated with the lesson, so I just started to explain the Gospel to him. The Holy Spirit took over then, spoke through me, and explained why we are imperfect, why Jesus came to earth and died, what that means for us, and the end of time, all in a few minutes, seamlessly and coherently. I didn't even know what was happening, and Oliver was blown away. It was so great. James is going to church with us on Sunday, and we're meeting with him tomorrow afternoon.
Oliver and I went back to the hotel after that, worked out, cleaned up, and ate dinner. We shared testimonies of crazy healing and leadings (such as mine) and so much great stuff (by that, I meant the whole team shared testimonies with each other. One that begs mentioning was an incredible healing. Some women from our team were in the village meeting with some Ugandan women. One of them had epilepsy, and a cut on her arm that kept getting opened back up because of her seizures. While our women were praying for her, they saw the cut actually close up and heal, right before their eyes! It was a pretty incredible experience for them, and a really neat story to hear, and to retell.). Then we played Picture Phone (A combination of Pictionary and Telephone. You start with a word or phrase, then pass your paper, draw the phrase you get, pass it, describe the picture you get, pass it, etc. It's hilarious and fun.). It was so funny, I love laughing with these people. Now, we sleep. Can't wait for tomorrow!

Day 4 - Wednesday, June 13

Wednesday was our first full day in Gulu. We started out early and hit the ground running!

 After individual time with the Lord and breakfast, we had our morning team meeting. It started with worship for a while, during which time Matt, who Mitchell selected as leader since he had to leave, prayed for me and asked God for wisdom for me, saying he saw me as being wise. That really touched me deeply, since I've often prayed for wisdom in the past. After worship and a practical meeting about the day, we set out.
 We were told to stay in the same groups we had been assigned yesterday, so Hailey, Oliver and I were a group again today. We first walked into town and went to a bank to exchange money. While Hailey and Oliver were at the counter, a man came and sat in the chair next to me. I started talking to him; his name was Lawrence. I asked him if I could tell him about Jesus, and he said yes. I'm going to call him on Friday and meet with him then, since he's going out of town now. After that, we walked to Main Market. Oliver talked to two guys, because one was wearing an orange shirt, and he felt a word about that this morning. They go to a school in Gulu, which we are going to visit sometime in the next few days. When Oliver finished talking with them, we met a guy named Scott, and American who works with Antioch and lives in the area with his family. He talked to us for a while, then left to take supplies to a hospital Antioch runs. Then we prayed for guidance on who to talk to, and then Hailey talked to some women in one shop while Ollie and I went to the next shop to sit in the shade (Ugandans are incredibly hospitable. Oliver and I walked up to a shop that had some shade and asked the owner if we could wait there for a while, and he immediately stood up and got chairs for us to sit in, almost before we even said anything to him. That was pretty much the norm there.). We talked to the owners, mostly to just one of them. His name is Sierra Monteem, or at least, that's what it sounds like. He's a Christian, but he said he would like for us to come back to tell him more about Jesus. We prayed for him, too. When Hailey finished, we left. Things hadn't gone well for her, and she was a little discouraged. The women hadn't really listened to her, and she thinks they were making fun of her, too. We left Main Market and went back into town for water and lunch. We took lunch, as they say here, at a small restaurant in town. Most of the food was pretty good, and there a was a lot, almost more than Oliver and I could eat. Hailey ate her own food and only tasted some of ours. After lunch, we met with Otim, the boda driver from yesterday. Hailey and I rode with him down the street to the Acholi Inn to get sodas and talk. Oliver walked there (that early, we didn't even consider trying to put three of us on one boda), and he showed up with a girl he met along the way, who had accepted Christ after hearing the Gospel from Oliver! Her name was Gloria. Otim understood everything about the Gospel that we told him, but wanted to think about it first. He is coming to church with us on Sunday, and he's bringing a friend. Gloria is going to the Antioch Bible study at 5 with Hailey and Emmery, who she met shortly after we left. Now I'm waiting for a call from the boda driver who took Blake and me into town yesterday evening. I'll nap until then...
 It's late now, I'm about to shower and go to bed. After I tried to sleep for about an hour, I got up and went back into town with Oliver. I talked to a shop owner in the Main Market named Dennis. I'm going to meet with him again Saturday. I also talked to a boda driver named Richard, and I'll be meeting with him as well. Before we left Main Market, Oliver and I joined some Ugandans playing volleyball. I was terrible! I earned the other team a point almost every time the ball came to me. It was fun, though.
 After dinner, we all went into a village (Each short-term team has a village to focus on. Ours was named something that sounded like "Kabera Pong") to find people. Oliver, Christie, and I talked to another boda driver, and then a rolex stand owner. We're going to talk to both again, and the food stand owner said he is going to accept Christ tomorrow (When we started talking to him, he said he would accept Christ someday, when he felt like it, but after talking for a while, he changed his mind.)! I need to go now, because Oliver and Blake are waiting for me to turn out the light. More tomorrow.


Pay attention to those happenings; we'll see God use some of those things that seemed pointless and/or a waste for some really good things. He's pretty smart like that.

Day 3 - Tuesday, June 12

I somehow slept almost the entire two plane rides to Uganda, and I read Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle, the book that we each received a copy of to read on the trip, when I wasn't sleeping, so I didn't journal until after we arrived in Gulu. Our first plane left Houston on Sunday evening, June 10, and our second plane landed in Entebbe, Uganda, the next night. We spent the night there and headed to Gulu the next day, Tuesday. Here's my journal entry from that evening:

 Today we arrived in Gulu, Uganda! It's hard to believe that we're actually here! The plane rides were long, but I somehow slept a lot, which made them shorter, though I slept through a breakfast (I know, great grammar. The whole team would also bring up the missed breakfast and my funny reaction to it for the rest of the trip.). Hang on, I'm going back into town to get a jersey... Ok, Blake and I just got football (soccer) jerseys from town. More on that later. anyway, the flight here was alright. We arrived in Entebbe last night. Apparently Uganda turns off all its electricity at night (something we found to not be true for Gulu. Either it's only for certain places, or the hotel ran its generator every night). The hotel we stayed in was pitch black. I literally couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Oliver and I shared a room.
 This morning at breakfast, Mitchell gave us some terrible news. His and Beth's baby boy hasn't been getting the nutrients he needs. Beth and the baby are ok, but they may need to have him be born early, possibly within the next few days. Mitchell is taking the next flight back to Houston; he's actually probably boarding now, or will be soon (This was around 10:30 PM Tuesday. Mitchell and Beth's baby has since been born, 2 1/2 months early, and is doing exceptionally well now.). It's been hard to see him go. I know God is in control and has a perfect plan, though. All we can do now is pray for them, and continue on with our mission. We should hear more from Beth soon. (Something rather important I forgot to mention is that Matthew Stewart was appointed as leader after it was decided that Mitchell needed to head back home. Matt is an incredibly goofy and funny guy, but he was an incredible leader for the trip. Though he became much more serious after that point, he didn't lose any of his personality, and was still really funny when appropriate.)
 After breakfast and our meeting, we got on a big bus and rode for 6 hours to Gulu. Except for the lump in my seat, and me having to pee, causing the bus to stop (everyone ended up going, though), it was pretty cool.
 After arriving at the hotel in Gulu, we had a meeting with Kevin, an intern here for the summer, who sent us in teams on a scavenger hunt around town. I went with Oliver and Hailey. We rode bodas around; it was pretty scary at first. A boda is basically like a motorcycle taxi. You hop on the back and ride around town. The driver are friendly, and it's really cheap; a ride across town is 1,000 shillings, or just less than $.50. I already scheduled a meeting with a driver tomorrow afternoon to talk about Jesus. I'm so excited! (For the scavenger hunt, we had to take a boda into town and meet Richard, the owner of a print shop where we got all of our Bible lessons for the Ugandans we met with, take our team pre-paid phones to a store to put airtime on them, and then each group had a different place to go to. Ours went to the Main Market, a huge public market area on the edge of town with lots of various shops, and some basketball and volleyball courts. Oliver and I spent a lot of time there on the trip meeting with shop owners.)
 After getting back, Blake and I rode back into town to get some jerseys. This really cool guy named Isaac owns the shop, and he leads a Bible study in it every morning. He sold us the jerseys for $10 each (I mentioned that because he accepted our American money, and because you would probably pay at least $30 for a similar quality jersey in America). They're really nice Adidas jerseys. I got one now, and I'm getting another one later. I'm giving one to Brian (Sowell, my best friend back home).
 We had dinner after that, a buffet (The hotel served us a buffet every day for breakfast and dinner). It was great. We also showered, which was amazing, and now we're about to pray over the room and go to sleep. I'm rooming with Blake and Oliver. They're both great guys. Well, now they're waiting on me, so I'll go. I'll try to write again tomorrow.
-Brandon


And that was day three of our trip.