For avid followers of my blog, please forgive the delay in posting. My trip is proving already to be more eventful than expected. 


One hour or so before we were due to land in Nairobi to change planes, we got the message that an Egyptian plane had slewed across the runway and it was blocked. We were diverted to Mombasa and spent the next 16 hours plus in the airport. Little information was getting through, but my enterprising wife had been tracking the flight and picked up the news of the diversion. She went on the website of the hotel in Jinja where the conference is being held and managed to get word through about my whereabouts.


All this time I was out of contact because I only had a UK SIM card in my phone so had turned it off, thinking it wouldn't work in Kenya. My lack of contact with the outside world did give plenty of time to get to know some of my fellow travellers and discover more than 40 other Christians, including the young lady who had been sitting next to me on the plane. Her name is Mercy!


Eventually, we left Mombasa at 11.30 p.m. and arrived in Nairobi at 12.30 a.m. There followed much queueing to re-arrange connecting flights, which was finally accomplished at 6.15 a.m. I had managed to grab couple of hours sleep on the floor in a corridor along with several others. I finally left Nairobi exactly 24 hours after my scheduled time.


An hour before I left, I borrowed a phone to text Judy and the AIM office. I switched on my phone to get my boss's mobile number and discovered texts from Judy and Zillah. The phone had worked all the time! Thankfully I was able to inform them of my new flight and by the time I reached Entebbe someone was there to meet me and drive me all the way to Jinja.


Since I arrived I have been very well looked after and have already experienced some amazing sights and sounds and met some wonderful people. Time doesn't allow to even begin to tell a fraction of the story. Uganda is an amazingly green place, with very friendly people. I have seen some very basic living conditions, incredibly enterprising shops and businesses, including a video 'shack' where I got a passport photo in order to buy a Ugandan SIM card at another 'shack' further down the road. The guy even touched up my photo on Photoshop before he printed it!


I've had my first two rides on the back of a boda boda (100cc motor bike taxi), been to the source of the Nile and onto Lake Victoria. This afternoon I went with Steve Lancaster and Katie Mead to visit the orphange where she works. It's in a beautiful 110 acre valley, but the beauty of the place masks the sad stories in the lives of the children. Most of the children were at school but we saw and played with the little ones. They were wonderful - longing to be picked up and played with - and we had a great time. I'll post some photos as soon as I can.


The conference itself has been a great time of worship, fellowship and Bible teaching and also a lot of fun and laughter. I am in awe of the commitment of the mission partners and humbled by what they have endured and are enduring for the sake of the gospel and a love for the Lord and African people.


The adventure has hardly begun and I already feel somewhat overwhelmed by what I have experienced. Thank you for your prayers. God is answering in surprising but wonderful ways.