May 2013 Update 1

God is so amazing! First cool story… Erin and I bought our tickets
separately, so we weren’t sitting together on our first flight. We both
settled in for a long flight. As the plane filled up, I had an empty
seat next to me for a while. Could I be that lucky??? Maybe Erin could
come back..then an older couple headed down the aisle they looked at
their tickets and then toward me. Bummer! One was to sit next to me and
the other behind me. So I offered to switch seats so they could sit
together. No big deal. This put me in a row that was empty…maybe??? No
luck again. 3 ladies came done and sat in the 3 seats. Everybody settled
in for the long flight. Now I am used to being on a plane full of
missionaries from Europe down to uganda, but not generally going to
Europe, but something told me these ladies were headed to do God’s work
somewhere. The gal next to me said hey and we started chatting.
“So where are you from?” Me
“The Bay Area.” Her
“Yes but where?” Me
“Well I lived for many years in Livermore, but have moved to Sacramento,
but these gals live in Livermore and San Ramon.”
“Funny cuz I live in Danville.”
“No way.”
“So where are you heading?”
“We’re going to Kenya to work with an orphanage.”
“Awesome! Is a church sending you?”
“Yes actually we are with Blazing Fire out of Pleasanton”
“Sweet! I am headed to uganda with a friend to do ministry too.”
“Really? What church are you with?”
“Community Presbyterian in Danville.”
“Any chance you know Erin?”
“Erin who? I know a few.”
“She has short black hair.”
“Beck?”
“Yes.”
“Actually she is on this plane. She is my friend I’m traveling with.”

Turns out I’m sitting next to a good friend/spiritual mentor of Erin’s.
crazy! Angela is her name and she went to surprise Erin once we were in
the air and didn’t return for a few hours. Erin ended up having an empty
set next to her. God is so good!! I also found out that their church is
partnered with an organization in uganda and Angela will be traveling
there in August. Crazy!! Super cool. I’m just never surprised by the
conversations I end up in anymore. Our God loves to build community!!

We had a fun time sharing stories on the first flight. The second flight
Erin and I both actually slept. Praise God! And we made it to Entebbe
early. Erin and i had both been praying that all 6 of our bags made it
too. They did!! This is my 8th trip to uganda and I have never been
pulled by customs. This was the time. I got a bit nervous because you
never know what they are looking for and they can take what they want.
The first bin we opened had water bottles on top. “What are these for?
What are you doing here in uganda?” “We are running a camp for kids in
Jinja and these are water bottles for them.”  The gal dug in a little
deeper and found a bag of marshmallows. “Is this food?” “Yes they are
marshmallows. Have you ever had them?” “No. I’ve never seen them.” “Oh
you need to try them” so we popped open the bag and handed them out to
the ladies doing the customs check. The young man who flagged us down
wasn’t so interested. They looked quickly in one more bin then let us go
with smiles and blessings. Awesome! Thank you Lord for those small fun
opportunities to bring joy to people. Erin explained to them how to
roast them even.

There are other fun interactions, but that is enough I think. We made it
to our hotel for the night. Got a good night sleep and a shower. We are
now headed to Jinja with my good friend Emma. He sends his greetings to
all the family in the US.

Thank you for your prayers for safe travels. We now have a couple days
to connect with old friends and gather a last few things we need for
camp. Camp starts the 14th. Have a blessed day!!