Exodus

All of a sudden our trip was changed radically early Sunday morning when we received word via text from Sharen Menicanin that the Prime Minister of Uganda announced that Uganda was closing it’s international airport in Entebbe to all incoming and all out going commercial flights at midnight Sunday. That was one day sooner than our scheduled flight.

Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us while we have been away! We especially want to thank Corrie, David, Reverend Justus, Sarah Lwanga, Jamil and Dan, (and many others) all with either International Needs Uganda or Canada who worked diligently to try to get us out earlier. We had been trying to get out earlier on Ethiopian Airlines but their flights to Toronto have been fully booked and therefore we could not get out earlier with them. There were other options, but they were not promising, nor guaranteed to get us to our destination; and they were risky. So we chose to believe that God had directed us to choose Ethiopian as our carrier way back in October for a reason. They have been wonderful. Yesterday when we had to make a quick exodus out of Uganda, they were able to get us out to Addis Ababa Sunday night. That meant we would have a minimum 24 hours in the Addis Ababa airport before catching our original flight back to Toronto. Well when we landed in Addis, they found a nearby hotel for all of us that not only provided individual rooms Sunday night, but also the ability to stay in them all day Monday, rather than having to be in the airport. And all for no extra charge! The flight change was free; the rooms were free; the 4 meals available were free! Guess how I’m flying next time I can – Ethiopian!

A special thank you to Sharen Menicanin who has been voted in as the 15th member of our team for her diligent research on-line of what was going on and providing that information back to us. I’m not sure that without her early morning notification, we would have gotten out of Uganda before the airport closed. We thank God for her and for all his provision.

Once we left Canada on March 10th, we have been living in a “bubble” concentrating on our mission, which in spite of all the Covid stuff, has been very successful. Several children have been sponsored, our lives have been changed, knowledge has been transferred both ways, relationships renewed, strengthened, started…..all of the above. Has this trip been successful? Yes for sure and God has orchestrated all of it! Had our departure date from Canada been 2 or 3 days later, we would have cancelled the whole trip for sure; he has also kept all of us healthy.

Going through the Addis Ababa airport we were examined for signs of the flu, our temperatures’ were taken and we all came through without any issues.

We are all looking forward to being home and as close as we can to our loved ones. We know and appreciate the concern you have had for us. We have been safe and until Saturday, there were no cases of Covid-19 in Uganda. We were perhaps more worried about you back home who are living in a great country, but one that had more Covid-19 cases that put you all at risk than where we were. Our love to you all for your cares.

We pray for our friends in Uganda. We pray that this virus will not devastate them. Their culture is one of close community and quarters, which makes it ripe for the spread o fcontagious diseases. We ask that you pray hard for Uganda at this time.

We will see you when we can friends, when the world can get back to a new reality; one that hopefully will do better than the one that got us into this Covid mess. Come Holy Spirit Come!