Greetings from Uganda! Our flight to this beautiful African country went well. We survived the 22 hour flight, which is every bit as tedious as it sounds. I managed to handle the fatigue pretty well. I used the strategy of staying awake nearly the whole time, except for short cat naps, and went to bed at night once we got in country. We all slept very well last night, and seem to be adjusting to the new time zone just fine. I personally feel great and not at all jet-lagged. All of our luggage made the trip (all 26 pieces), and seems to all be there with nothing broken or missing. Didn't have to stop at Customs, or pay any fees, other than the $50 a head you pay for 90-day visas once you get into the airport terminal in Entebbe.

We spent our first day in Uganda with Matt Stensaas and Tom Tracht running errands in Kampala. I got our American currency (carried into the country in a special law-enforcement shirt with pockets for pistols and worn under one of my Hawaiian shirts) converted to Ugandan currency. I immediately became a millionaire ($5,000 turns into a little over 10 million Ugandan shillings). The trip to Mbarara went well. We got here just before dark, and just in time for church to let out.

We all slept well, and seem to be adjusting to our new timezone well. Today, we looked at houses, and got one for only 700,000 Ush a month! That's just $350 a month for rent! What modifications are needed will be taken out of the first year's rent. When we get it all squared away, we will have 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, and room for an office for me. The yard has an elevated garden area with fruit trees (avocados, mangos), where we can plant strawberries and anything else we desire. We are walking distance from Bryan and Cheri Stensaas, up on a quiet hilltop neighborhood.

We are buying some of the super comfortable VitaFoam mattresses to use until our container arrives with our American beds, and will likely have to make a run into Kampala to buy appliances soon. It's so exciting!

I'll let you know more when I get some more time to sit and write. Keep praying about a car. We will need one eventually. Also pray that our Property Manager back in the States will find a buyer for our house in America. She seems to think that she can find a buyer, as opposed to just renting it. She is capable of both however, and we will do what is needful to deal with our former home.

Greetings, no longer from the deputation trail! We finished up our final meeting in Roswell, NM last week, and all that remains now are final preparations to leave for Uganda on March 22! We had a great series of meetings in New Mexico, in First Baptist Church of Edgewood, Santa Fe Baptist Church, and Roswell Baptist Church respectively. They were all great missions conferences, and praise the LORD, all three churches are supporting us! We still need a bit more support, so keep praying that God will raise that up shortly before or after our departure.

Three churches have contacted me about supporting us and all I have to do is get them our DVD and prayer cards, and they are going to represent us in their missions conferences, so praise the LORD about that as well!

Here's a list of extremely specific needs you all can pray for:

$9500 for shipping a 20' container from here all the way to Mbarara, Uganda. We have a little better than half, and need the rest next week.

$16,000 for outfit (vaccines – just found out that's going to be $1900, work permits, six month's rent for a house, stuff for the house and any improvements required, and anything else we're likely to need on arrival). We have about half, and need the rest by the time we leave on March 22.

$12,000 to buy a vehicle, and a vehicle to buy, after we get to the field.

These are the deadlines, and the needs. I bring them up because God loves meeting deadlines and answering specific prayers. I'm not particularly worried, because God has never failed us and I know of no reason why He should start.

Good news! We may have a house! Dr. Ron Bragg and Matt Stensaas found one that sounds perfect for our needs. The landlord is wanting $600 a month. Pray he'll come down in price, to $450 a month perhaps. I have not seen the place, so it may turn out to be no good, but honestly, 4 bedrooms and an acre-and-a-half of land with fruit trees sounds pretty good to me (this would give us room to house guests).

There is much to do in the weeks ahead. I marvel that I can finally measure my time remaining in America in weeks. It's so exciting to finally be done with the necessary missionary polishing and preparation phase (deputation) and be moving to the next phase, deployment. God has great plans for Uganda, and I am so grateful to be included in them.

Keep praying folks, and God bless!