6/8/09 - QUEEN ELIZABETH, UGANDA

Slept like a baby last night and the beauty of the world around me put me in a fantastic disposition. That and realizing this is our last real day in Uganda. Tomorrow we will travel and tomorrow night we will fly out. This is VERY bittersweet. I am ready to go home. Very ready. And not at all ready to leave this world, their people, my team of people, behind.

I could comment more on the wildlife. I could talk more about the 650 different species of birds found in Uganda. How the crested crane is never found alone in the wild and mates for life. Or the disappoint of many that we would see no giraffe on our trip, safaris and game drives because of the long and terrible reign of Idi Amin. Or I can leave what may be my last Ugandan journal entry with the only answer I feel like I’ve been given...

In my quiet time with God on this trip, I’ve come across a lot. More that I wish I would have written about in my personal journal if I had the time. But I was streaming through Philippians today, it’s one of my like top 13 favorites. And chapter 1, after initial greetings, starts with these words “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” I have to believe that God started a good work in me. And I truly believe, then, that Uganda was another small good work...one he fuelled in me from the very beginning. Made me excited about. Helped me fight towards. But, perhaps, the actual Uganda experience was only a piece of the good work God has in store. I leave my CCS Uganda journal confident that he who began a good work in me will carry it through until the day of completion...