When I was looking back over my pictures from the last few weeks this one stood out to me as a symbol of how my summer has been. This cute adorable baby chick died about 30 minutes after I fondly held it in my hands. I bonded with a German Shepherd over the summer and the dog saw me enjoying this baby chicken. I put the chick down and walked to another part of the yard. Not long later the sweet dog came up to me and promptly dropped the baby chick at my feet, I am assuming it was a gift because it knew how much I enjoyed playing with the baby. However, the baby didn't fair so well with the journey. Maybe it was already sick because the mom had rejected it but either way it didn't make it, kind of like my own expectations this summer.
We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
Proverbs 16:9
It all began with my last minute decision to teach summer school. When that was over Phil and I made a last minute decision to take a short-term missions trip to Uganda. And that was my summer.
Summer school provided me with an opportunity to hang out with some great students and colleagues. That time of relationship building will make the transition into the new year that much easier for those incoming 7th graders who will sit in my classes.
Preparing for a trip to Africa was much more time consuming this time around. There was the shopping, the visas, the tickets, fundraising, travel details, messages to prepare, and lots of correspondence back and forth to fine tune the details.
Eventually we were off on an adventure to the other side of the world. The several long flights proved it!
My first trip to Uganda was in 2022. I wrote about that here. This time I brought Phil along to be a part of the work being done in that special corner of eastern Uganda. We spent time with our friends and missionaries who tirelessly work to bring hope to young girls and train local pastors.
Some highlights and takeaways are below.
Phil teaching the girls how to play volleyball:
Thanks for your interest in our trip to Uganda. This ministry is growing with new buildings and opportunities to sponsor girls who are in the one year program. If you are interested in contributing to this ministry you can visit this page. Soon we will have a sponsorship website available with pictures of girls you can directly sponsor.
Blessings,
Rachael
P.S. We were able to take a few days for exploration in a National Park along the Nile River. Here is a sunset picture of one evening along the Nile.