"The Undiscovered Country"

Taking a break from the seemingly unending list of things to do before leaving for Tilling, Ted & I found ourselves in front of the television last week watching the Star Trek movie, "The Undiscovered Country". After saving the confederation's tenuous peace, Captain Kirk makes this dramatic speech about the future, describing it as the undiscovered country. As the credits rolled, Ted quietly began to compare Captain Kirk's "undiscovered country" with the adventure the ARISE mission team was about to embark upon.

The ARISE crew of 8, like the infamous crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise, is uniquely gifted and chosen for the voyage ahead. Challenges wait for us in the days ahead, but we are confident in the Lord. So, we will not be afraid or discouraged, but be courageous for the Lord our God will be with us wherever we go. We will boldly go ...

In about 6 short hours ... that's when the team will be packing up the 2 vans with alllllllllll the luggage and hoping there's enough room left for them. It's amazing how quickly 23 large suitcases, 1 golf bag, 2 guitars, 8 wheeled carry-on pieces, 3 laptops, and 5 purses can fill up two 8-passenger vans!

These past 2 days in Kampala have been filled with trying to adjust to jet lag and from "sleeping" 2 nights on an airplane, while at the same time trying to maintain our schedule.

This afternoon the team travelled to Sseguku about 10 km south of Kampala to visit the home of Ronnie. Ronnie has built an incredibly beautiful, large home on the top of a hill, at the end of a very narrow, winding, rough, dirt road...what we would be more inclined to call a quad trail. The amazing thing about Ronnie's home is that it is completely run with solar power. He has his own water well and his yard is designed to catch all the rain run-off to maintain his extensive grounds. The home is completely self-sufficient in regards to its heat, water, and sewage needs. The team was inspired by the possibilities for the Tilling project.

We were also treated to generous Ugandan hospitality. Learning that we would be visiting on Ted's birthday, Ronnie even had a birthday cake! I don't think we could have planned a better day for Ted to celebrate. After all, we went to the tractor dealership, the water pump and irrigation dealership, and then he was able to use all his technical language and know-how to converse with Ronnie about inverters, parallel and series circuits, kva's, bio-fuel generation, and .... Ronnie knew what he was talking about! Ted was delighted with all the gifts he received ... stacks of technical brochures which he poured over during lunch.

The team is doing very well. I wanted to include a few quotes from them, and some pictures. But, they all went to bed hours ago and I haven't quite figured out how to "do" the pictures.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers. We have received word that Mama Kevina has been ill with malaria. She is now on medication for it but was ill again today. We're not sure if it's side effects from the medication, or something else. Please remember her in your prayers. She has been so excited about the upcoming ARISE team visit, and we want her to be well so she can participate in all that has been planned.

"Live long and prosper"