Sweet Friends!

We have the most amazing friends!!  Last week we got a big treat in the mail from our dear friends, the Alexanders!  Elizabeth was so thoughtful and sent things that only a true friend would know I was missing!  

I was truly amazed that the package even made it to us since it turns out that the only address I had given anyone was the physical address for the compound where we work.  Turns out that there is no postal delivery to homes or offices here.  Children of Grace does have a PO Box but that was not the address Elizabeth sent the package to since I didn't even know about the PO Box until after she mailed it.  Oops!  After I found out she had sent it and that it had been several weeks since it left the States, Mike and I went to the post office in town to see if we could track down the package.  

So, when we walked into the post office and told them we were looking for a package, they sent us around to the room where all the mail is received and where they store all the packages until they are picked up.  There was one guy working there and we explained what we were looking for (we were also picking up a package that was coming for CoG from Kampala, only two hours away and was supposed to arrive two days before we went).  So, he let us look through all the books where he records the packages that come in and neither one of the packages were listed there.  I could see several packages from the U.S. sitting in a back room but he swore that it wasn't any of those because they were all written in the book.  He then suggested we call the processing center in Kampala to see if they had our package from the States so I called them and had them start looking for it.  Just before we left, I took a chance and asked the guy, "would you mind if we just take a quick look through the packages that are sitting back there?"  He told me that was fine and Mike and I started looking for anything that might be for us.

First, we ran across the package from Kampala that also swore had not arrived yet and I was so excited to have found that.  It also gave me great hope that maybe the package from Graham and Elizabeth was hiding somewhere in there.  For one last chance, we started looking through these packages on a random shelf in the back of the room and sure enough, at the top of the shelf I spotted Elizabeth's handwriting and OUR NAMES!  We were thrilled that it made it to Jinja and even more excited that we were able to find it!  Mike even said, "I feel like we just won a thousand dollars!" and I felt the same way.  Such a little thing like that was such a huge blessing to us... and it was especially exciting that we were able to find it even though the guy was SURE it wasn't there.  Ha!  We showed him :)  And now we know the system, which is also awesome!!

We felt so blessed and grateful that our sweet friends took a chance on sending us something so far away not knowing if it would even get here.  I just had to brag on them a little bit while also sharing the funny story of how we even found the package!  Thank you, Graham and Elizabeth!  Y'all are awesome!  

Note: This is certainly not a ploy to get all of you to send us stuff... we were just excited and had to share it.  Not to say we don't love getting packages and wouldn't welcome them if you are dying to send something.  Just let us know and we can get you the details :)  We are so blessed by the many ways you have ALL supported us, encouraged us, and loved us during this time and we couldn't be more thankful for our sweet friends!

We also had a sweet visit just a few weeks ago from some friends back home!  Hannah was a YoungLife girl of mine this past year and Libbie was part of YoungLife a few years ago as well when Mike was already leading.  These cute girls had been here in Uganda for almost the exact amount of time as us but were about three hours away from where we live.  They ended up joining a short-term team from the U.S. on their journey to Jinja for the day and we got to have lunch with them!  It was such a treat to see friends from home and a blessing to share our experiences here in Uganda so far.  Hannah has just made it back to the States and I can't believe she's already home!  It seems like they have both loved their time here and it was such a treat to get to see them halfway around the world!  Thanks for meeting up with us, girls!  We love you!

some days I forget we're in Africa!