Journal Entry No. 1

Well, we've been back two weeks now and had lots of time to reflect on our journey. Though people ask what I've taken away from this trip, I find it hard to know what to tell them. I feel like what I think I've learned less than a month afterward will be entirely different from what I will get out of reflecting back months, years, even decades from now. I'm sure every moment of reflection will bring different thoughts and realizations about what I experienced in those short weeks across the world.

While we were on the trip, I kept a daily

journal. Rather than trying to explain everything up front on the entry, I decided to integrate my descriptions of Uganda into stories about my days as the trip went on.

I'm going to begin tonight with my first journal entry, and every night add the subsequent entry. There should be about two weeks of entries total. After I've finished posting my journal, it will officially be a month after returning and maybe my reflections will have changed.

Here is the first entry in my journal, written on the plane from Denver to Los Angeles:

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Prov. 3:5-6 (NIV)

July 16th

1:30 PM Colorado Time

We just left DIA to go to LAX. It was so weird, going through security with all these other people. I mean, I know I've flown lots of times before but this time is different. Even security felt different without a laptop.

I wonder how long it'll take my brain to adjust to not having my cell phone. I've been without it for an hour and I've probably gone to check it about five times.

Looking at DIA through the lens of a missionary is an entirely new experience. I no longer take for granted the comforts of life in America. Even the hand dryers in the bathroom stand out to me. How much we take for granted.

I've never been nervous about flying before. I wonder if it's just my body tricking me, hoping I won't realize it's really the journey I'm about to embark on that has kept my heart beating like a kid's cartoon being fast-forwarded; that has reduced my appetite to one meal a day.

The lady who checked our bag didn't make us pay once she heard we were missionaries. The attendant giving us water has a cross aroun

d her neck. God is with us. I need to remember we are His hands and feet for the next 3 weeks. Sam and Teri: Soldiers for Christ. His will be done with us; and we'll take lots of pictures on the way. :)